Welcome to Centra Today!
August is often a time of both reflection and preparation for the months ahead. It's a chance to embrace the last ice cream cone of summer while also looking forward to the first days of school and the fall foliage that will soon arrive in central Virginia.
We encourage you to take a moment to pause, reflect and connect with the stories and information shared in this edition of Centra Today too.
This month we’re sharing an amazing story of how one man’s life was saved by the Centra Bedford Memorial Hospital Emergency Department Team and introducing you to one of Centra’s Certified Nurse Midwives who has a wonderful sense of humor and an even bigger heart for serving others.
You’ll also get to read about our community partner, HumanKind, whose programs are focused on strengthening our community, and be inspired by one former bedside nurse and her personal perspective on Workplace Violence (WPV) and how we can join together to prevent WPV at Centra.
Keep reading to learn more about these stories and more!
Hometown Heart Heroes
John Dawson's Story
An active individual in his late fifties, John Dawson thought that becoming out of breath during walks with his wife, Jennifer, and their dogs at the Peaks of Otter was just a part of getting older. However, the realization that the cause of his shortness of breath was caused by something far more serious than aging came on October 15, 2022.
John awoke at 5am with a burning sensation in his chest and began sweating. Quickly waking up Jennifer and telling her how he was feeling, they decided immediately that he needed to go to the Emergency Department (ED). After driving ten minutes from their Bedford home, they arrived at the Centra Bedford Memorial Hospital (BMH) ED where he vaguely remembers walking inside and saying, “I think I’m having a heart attack.”
His next memory is having a nitroglycerin pill under his tongue and sitting up on the observation table and saying, “I’m feeling better,” until he suddenly fell backward on the exam room table. What happened next was far from a sign of feeling better–Jennifer, described how he began having convulsions and his heart completely stopped. The Bedford ED team immediately began administering CPR and attempting to resuscitate John.
As everything was transpiring, nurse Lindsey Burch led Jennifer out of the exam room and acted as a comforting presence. Later, Dr. Ryan McClellan approached Jennifer and she asked him if John was having a heart attack. He informed her he was in the middle of experiencing one and then offered to pray with her. She described how this, “touched my heart and soul. It was not just a generic prayer; he poured out from his heart to God. In that moment, I felt such calm, and to this day, it brings tears to my eyes.”
After stabilizing John, his care team knew he would need to be medevacked to Centra Lynchburg General Hospital (LGH) for further care. After being transported by Centra One pilot, Sam Brian, Dr. Kenneth Saum performed open heart surgery on John.
One of John’s next memories is from when he awoke at 6:45 a.m. not realizing that almost 24 hours had passed since he first began experiencing symptoms of the heart attack at his home in Bedford. He explained that he remembered almost nothing from the last day and what had happened to him.
As soon as he was able to move from a bed to an upright chair, John opted to take laps around the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit, taking these walks 4-5 times per day. Motivated to get back to “normal” as soon as possible, John only spent four weeks in rehab due to the “can-do” attitude that he took towards his exercises and therapy to expedite his recovery.
From his initial team at Bedford and Centra One to Dr. Saum and the team at LGH and Dr. Jessica Jara who provided excellent follow-up care in the months of recovery that followed, John described how his entire care experience at Centra was, “amazing.” He is especially grateful for his Bedford team who worked so hard to save his life when his heart stopped and for how Patient Care Tech, Emma Board, went above and beyond to provide excellent care to him during his time on the Cardiac Intermediate Care Unit.
Now, almost one year after experiencing a heart attack, the longtime resident of central Virginia says he still loves living in Bedford and has added being close to BMH as one more reason why! When he’s not busy with his work for the federal government or attending church at Sedalia Baptist, he said his favorite thing to do is spend time with Jennifer, his wife and best friend of 24 years.
While his heart attack has not changed John’s desire to live his life with a can-do attitude, he did explain he wishes had done more to understand his risk factors before the heart attack occurred. With a family history of heart disease, he wishes he had taken preventative measures such as modifying the foods he was consuming and monitoring his risk with a care team before a heart attack could have occurred.
His short yet lifesaving message to others now?
"Preventative care is so important!"
HumanKind
Community Partner Spotlight
Started in 1903 as a residential home for orphans and later expanded to serve adults with intellectual disabilities, HumanKind has a long history of serving children and families in central Virginia. Today with a focus on fulfilling its mission of strengthening individuals, families and communities through care, counseling and education, HumanKind offers multiple programs and services across Virginia.
These programs cover everything from personal finance education to mental health counseling in addition to early childhood resources and services for adults with disabilities. Centra has partnered with HumanKind to support many of these programs through cross-collaboration in addition to grants and sponsorships.
One of these active collaborations is the Motherhood Collective (info on TMC) which works to equip and empower women from preconception to postpartum through evidence-based education and social support programming. Examples of this programming include support groups for women experiencing perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs) and those who are walking through infertility, miscarriage or still-birth. To read more about how Centra has partnered with the Motherhood Collective, keep scrolling and read about this month’s person of Centra, Katie Page, CNM.
HumanKind’s Blackwater Counseling Services provides an integrative, person-centered approach in addition to evidence-based therapies to meet the needs of individuals, couples and families in care. Blackwater Counseling received a $15,000 grant from Centra last year to provide scholarship spots for individuals who couldn’t afford services and Centra providers actively refer to Blackwater.
Another vital program offered by HumanKind, Healthy Families, is dedicated to empowering new parents on their journey from prenatal care to their child's fifth birthday. Focusing on positive parent-child interactions and providing education on healthy development and family functioning, the program's dedicated staff offers invaluable guidance and support. Centra serves as the top referral source for Healthy Families, with Heather May, a Perinatal Navigator, contributing her expertise on the program's advisory committee.
It is evident that Centra and HumanKind have a shared commitment to caring for and educating our communities so that individuals across central Virginia are strengthened and provided with the resources they need to live their best lives.
People of Centra
Katie Page, CNM
As a Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM), Katie Page serves as a primary care provider for women from puberty to post-menopause. Practicing in the CMG Women’s Centers that are located in Forest and Farmville, Katie loves being involved directly with the community through the care she provides in clinic and through her collaborative work with the Motherhood Collective (TMC), a branch of HumanKind.
Participating in a five-year undergrad/master’s program through Randolph College, Katie interned with a midwife in Lynchburg as a part of her schooling and then went on to receive her Master of Science in Nursing from Vanderbilt University in 2009. Following her time at Vanderbilt, she worked in Tennessee and Pennsylvania before returning to Lynchburg and joining the Centra team in 2013.
Now ten years later, Katie is just as passionate about providing empathetic and intentional midwifery care as the day she first started caring for patients. She described how one of the greatest challenges of her role is also what she loves most about her job, “working with others and serving them every day.” Katie and the Centra Women & Children’s Health teams are constantly asking themselves how they can better serve their patients. Whether it’s assessing quality through past data or asking the patient, “what does quality care look like for you?” Katie explained that the willingness of care teams to critically evaluate their policies and practices is vital for improving patient care.
One of Katie's remarkable contributions to her patients' experiences is the Labor Comfort Measures Workshop, created in collaboration with the Motherhood Collective. This interactive workshop equips couples and birth workers with invaluable knowledge about the labor process. From debunking misconceptions to addressing comfort factors like fear, Katie empowers individuals to advocate for themselves and enhance their labor experience.
The workshop is an interactive experience set-up with multiple stations to cover topics such as using a labor pool and practicing helpful walks and exercises to use during the labor process. The workshop which has been held since 2015 is now offered three times per year. Each year, Katie updates the materials to align with the newest evidence. Recent updates have included incorporating education regarding trauma informed care and mindfulness practices during labor.
Determined to break barriers and provide equal opportunities for all women, Katie teamed up with Maria Hayden from TMC to secure a grant from the Jessie Ball duPont Fund. This generous grant enables women of color to attend the Labor Comfort Measures Workshop without any financial burden, extending the reach of vital birth education across our communities.
While the Labor Comfort Measures Workshop is one example of what Centra’s partnership with HumanKind has enabled, Katie also explained that TMC is always such a strong partner whenever Centra’s Women & Children’s Services team wants to engage the community on important health topics. An example of this is the annual Milkapalooza event that is held every August on the front lawn of Virginia Baptist Hospital (VBH) to celebrate National Breastfeeding Month and connect the community with helpful resources related to Women and Children’s Health.
Beyond her work at Centra, Katie is working to obtain her Ph.D. from the University of Colorado. Her research is focused on crafting an effective model of care for midwifery in hospital spaces, driven by a desire to continually enhance her profession and positively impact the lives of mothers and families. Amidst her busy schedule, Katie also finds joy in her roles as a mom and wife, lovingly raising her 11-year-old, five-year-old, and doing life with her husband who she’s been with for twenty years. Ever-connected to knowledge and always carrying her laptop, she humorously claims her spirit animal is a computer.
When asked, “If you could spend the day with anyone in the world, who would it be?,” she answered:
“I’d go hangout at the World Health Organization with midwifery leaders. They’re my people; I could geek out with them, and we would drink weird tea together. It’s important to be in community with your people!”
Katie, we’re so thankful that you’re a part of our Centra community! Thank you for the work you do to fulfill our vison of pursuing excellence, inspiring hope, and advancing health and healing for the communities we serve.
Milkapalooza
Save the date!
Join Centra and the Motherhood Collective for the 6th Annual Milkapalooza event celebrating World Breastfeeding Month and the maternal health success our community is working to achieve together!
Enjoy a morning of fun with food trucks, music, various vendors, maternal health resources, lawn games and so much more–all on the campus of Virginia Baptist Hospital!
Join us on Saturday, August 26, 2023 from 9am-12pm
A Personal Perspective on Workplace Violence
By Carrie White, RN
As someone who worked as a bedside nurse for many years, I believe the role of a Caregiver is nothing short of the most selfless professions a person can have. When performing this role, you truly do not know what you will face during each day at work. There is no prediction of what your day will entail, what patients you will encounter or even what time you will leave for the day. Only two things are for sure–you will care for others, and you will make a difference. It is a profession where you meet others where they are. It is humbling to see people in a time of anger, time of mourning or at the end of life. Other times, there are moments of excitement, healing and joy. Essentially, there is an extensive realm of feelings that can be experienced which is why the Caregiver must be emotionally flexible and intelligent enough to provide care in the most appropriate way.
Although the days where we see our patients heal, grow and improve are some of the most rewarding, those good days also come with the bad. Our patients, families and friends go through very difficult moments as well. Some can work through these emotions much better than others, but what we as Caregivers always do is provide support. We stand strong to help support our patients during these tough times. This may mean holding space, providing prayer or even just being a silent presence. These are truly the difficult moments that develop us as professionals and help provide us with the knowledge and experience to learn what each patient’s situation may need. Although we pray none of these situations will result in workplace violence, this is something that has occurred over the years when our patients and visitors are not able to process these emotions in a healthy way.
Workplace violence has become a major occupational hazard in our profession. Where do we draw the line? So many things have been normalized in our line of work and in many ways, an inappropriate version of what is considered normal has been created. This affects every single Caregiver in our organization. During my time as a nurse, I have been spat on, kicked, threatened, and stalked on social media platforms. The threats have ranged from patients telling me they would kill me to threatening a return to my unit with a bag full of guns. These moments have disrupted my sleep, caused me to feel unsafe and made me briefly reevaluate my decision to go into the field of nursing. This is something that a person with such a heart to serve others should never have to experience. The sad thing is, I didn’t report every single instance of workplace violence I listed above.
The practice of caring for others comes with great risk. 1 in 4 nurses have been assaulted (ANA, 2022). This may be from an outside patient or an internal colleague. Workplace violence is not only defined as physical, sexual or psychological abuse, but also includes threats of violence, harassment, intimidation, threatening, or disruptive behavior (ANA, 2022). It’s easy to feel as though there is a lack of respect for healthcare employees who have had to tolerate this behavior for many years. These situations happen daily and can escalate quickly. It is essential for Caregivers to speak up about workplace violence. The American Nurses Association (ANA) Nursing Code of Ethics promotes our same duty to care for the health and safety of others to be continued in the health and safety of ourselves (ANA, 2015). ANA Nursing Code of Ethics Provision 5.2 promotes the health, safety, and well-being of the Caregiver, which means advocating in our field to support prevention and a no tolerance stance against workplace violence (ANA, 2015).
What I am most proud to say is, Centra is doing something about this. Not just a little something, but a big implementation initiative to stop this vicious cycle of the inappropriately created “normalization” of these workplace violence events.
As Caregivers, we deserve to be respected and treated well. Our working environment must be a safe space. With Centra’s new Workplace Violence Toolkit, resources are available 24/7 and the response is immediate. Our Caregivers will go through the steps of pausing, communicating, treating the injury, reporting and continuing with resource support after the event takes place. Prevention is occurring and our leaders are showing up to advocate for us, our practice and our safety, which is vital in order to stop workplace violence altogether.
This work is crucial to the longevity of our Caregivers and our organization. Workplace violence is on the rise and has increased in our own hospitals. As we take a stand against it, our community will recognize and support the need for intervention to be made. As Caregivers trying to do the right thing, there are moments when we are attacked in more ways than just obvious physical altercations. The threats and worries we face affect our ability to care for our patients properly. Now, as One Centra, we work towards taking care of not only our community but also taking care of our own people. So please, don’t give into the “new norm” of accepting threats. Take a stand, talk about it, and don’t allow it. Our community and colleagues need us.
References
- American Nurses Association. (2015). Code of ethics for nurses. American Nurses Publishing.
- American Nurses Association. (2022). Incivility, Bullying, and Workplace Violence Prevention. Retrieved from American Nurses Association: End Nurse Abuse*American Nurses Association, (nursingworld.org) on 4/6/23.
Virginia 10-Miler, 4-Miler & Walk
Centra is providing a $20 discount to the first 200 registrants for the Virginia 10-Miler, 4-Miler & Walk! This discount applies to our corporate team registration fees of $55 and $35. The discount will be reflected at the end of the registration process prior to payment.
The Centra team URL remains the same: https://www.runsignup.com/CorporateTeams/Centra
The Team Code is CENTRA2023 and must be entered to access the team site. The deadline to register with a Centra discount on the corporate site is Tuesday, August 15, 2023.
Mission Moment
Alyssa Mendoza, Graphic Designer for Centra Marketing and Communications
I never imagined that my passion for graphic design would lead me into the healthcare industry. My journey towards this path began in the fall of 2019 when I delved into my family history for my college senior thesis project and spoke to my father about his mother’s and grandmother's cancer history. I discovered that my paternal grandmother had battled and beaten breast cancer and learned my great-grandmother had also suffered from breast and ovarian cancer.
After doing some research online, I decided to talk with a medical professional at the clinic on my college campus to hopefully gain more guidance. They provided me with a comprehensive packet of information on something called "BRCA," an abbreviation for "BReast CAncer gene." Mutations in the BRCA genes have been shown to increase the risk of developing breast cancer in some individuals(1). As I read through the overwhelming amount of information, I felt a mix of emotions.
I decided to use this experience to create an awareness campaign that not only captured attention but also conveyed the medical information with clarity and compassion. As part of the campaign, I had the opportunity to interview two women who carried the mutated BRCA gene and had battled multiple types of cancers. Their personal stories inspired and made one thing so clear to me: knowledge is power. Understanding the available options for taking charge of one's health is empowering and can make a significant difference in someone’s life.
Almost three years ago, when the opportunity to join Centra's Marketing team as a graphic designer presented itself, I was filled with excitement. The project I had worked on just a year before had ignited a passion within me for work in healthcare, and I felt I had a responsibility to leverage my skills to contribute meaningful work.
During my time at Centra, I have had the opportunity to play a role in enhancing the organization’s visual communication, assisting to create long lasting brand recognition and most importantly, supporting and promoting various departments and service lines committed to caring for patients and the community.
Each day, I approach my work with the dedication to produce designs that not only inspire and inform but also contribute to Centra's mission of, "improving the health and quality of life for the communities we serve." Patients often face the daunting task of navigating through incredibly complex information, and sometimes, words alone are insufficient. I consider myself so lucky to be at Centra, where each day presents an opportunity to make a difference.
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Thank you for reading August’s edition of Centra Today!
We love receiving your feedback and engagement about the meaningful stories we aim to share each month. If one of this month’s stories resonated with you, click the heart below, and if you have a story idea for a future newsletter, email corporate.communications@centrahealth.com.