Tinkerbell's Tale
National Stroke Awareness Month and Blessing Health’s observance of National Nurses Week began on a heartwarming note.
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Tough decision leads nurse down new path
Pam Booth’s nursing career has touched the lives of more patients than she could ever have imagined.
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What does “exceptional care” look like?
Exceptional care looks different through the lens of each Blessing Health System affiliate. At Illini Community Hospital, exceptional care is being in the top 10% of critical access hospitals (CAHs) in the country for exceptional care transitions for all emergency department transfer patients, as recognized by the Medicare Beneficiary Quality Improvement Program (MBQIP).
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Blessing nurses on the COVID battle: “We adapt and we overcome”
Every Blessing Health System nurse played a vital role in responding to the COVID pandemic. However, care delivered in two locations drew a high level of attention – the Blessing Hospital Emergency Center and the Blessing Express Clinic. In both places throughout the pandemic, crowds of people arrived daily for testing or care, or both.
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How Blessing’s Express Clinic team handled COVID surges
The Blessing Express Clinic team will likely never forget January 2022. They saw more than 6,000 patients over those 31 days, mostly for COVID-19 testing due to the omicron variant. How was the team—including 2 RNs, 3 LPNs and 2 CMAs—able to meet that demand?
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Blessing Hospital 2 North: Strengthening the bond
Blessing Health System caregivers focus on the bond of the physical, mental and spiritual aspects of a person when restoring them to their best health.
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One nurse’s journey to the bedside: “I wish I would have done it earlier”
Bev Armstrong’s path to a nursing career began late in life, with the arrival of her granddaughter. Born in Keokuk, Iowa, with a hematoma, the baby was transferred to the neonatal intensive care unit in Iowa City.
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This team “owns” it
There was a time, not long ago, when the Blessing Hospital Progressive Care Unit (PCU) had one certified nurse.
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Nurses play key role in operating new life-support system
National statistics from the height of the COVID-19 pandemic showed that 50%-60% of patients placed on the life-support system known as ECMO, short for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, survived at least 90 days.
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Surviving stroke - together
On a Saturday morning, Barb and Rich Schmidt were getting ready to attend a swim meet featuring one of their grandchildren. “Normal morning,” Rich recalls. “Showered and shaved and began combing my hair.”
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