 |
“Dawn is the embodiment of service.”
Kathy Yezarski, Manager, Case Mgmt & Social Services
“Dawn is very service-oriented and always goes the extra mile for every person.”
Linda Simon, Vice President, Mission Services
“Dawn is a very, very helpful person. She’s always trying to find answers and solutions.”
Anwar Abdelhadi, M.D., Internist / Hospitalist
“I cherish the Sisters of St. Joseph’s presence at our hospital and want to continue their vision.”
Dawn Hyatt, RN
|
As a social worker and case manager at St. Joseph Hospital, Dawn’s primarily role is to assist often-fragile patients and their families with hospital discharge to a lower level of care. She is also the “point person” for referrals to the Care for the Poor program. Although much of what she does is behind the scenes, for the many people who have very little knowledge about transitioning to another level of care, as well as for the hospital and health system, Dawn serves as a tireless advocate.
A patient found in an abandoned building and suffering from schizophrenia came to St. Joseph Hospital and required a leg amputation. Although with proper medication his mental health issues resolved, intensive rehabilitation was still needed. Dawn dedicated herself to ensuring he would receive appropriate care at a skilled nursing facility. “Sometimes you have to paint a brighter picture than what’s relayed on paper. In this case the patient had no one and no place to live. It took a lot of encouragement to get Gary into the skilled nursing facility, and it took over a year to get Medi-Cal coverage for him,” she recalls. “He just recently was moved to a board and care facility so that his meds can be managed, and he’s doing very well.”
“It’s patients like these, who are unable to speak for themselves, for whom Dawn displays the most passion for their health and well being,” claims her supervisor, Kathy Yezarski. “At the same time she is prudent, recognizing when Care for the Poor would be appropriate as well as when there are other community resources that would be the best fit. This is challenging on a daily basis, and requires dedication to the values of the hospital and health system.”
In another complex and unfunded case, a young patient required an uninterrupted chemotherapy regimen. Getting authorizations can be very time consuming, requiring from 12 to 20 phone calls. She explains, “In a case like this it can be difficult to get everybody’s cooperation. They need to have the confidence that someone is taking responsibility and will follow up.”
For each of her patients, Dawn does her best to ensure a smooth transition through their unique continuum of care. If the patient is going home, she’ll investigate what medical devices they may need and will check the home to ensure it is safe. If they need a ride to and from doctor visits, wound care or dialysis treatments, she arranges transportation.
Every week, Dawn visits one or more area skilled nursing facilities (SNF), and works hard to develop relationships with case managers, directors of nursing, nursing home administrators and other employees of the SNFs, so that communication regarding quality issues can be done in an open and effective manner. This is made more difficult by frequent staff turnover. Bringing everybody together to keep the care process moving forward calls for political savvy. “I work to maintain positive, open communication and a positive, teaching approach,” says Dawn.
Recently, Dawn received a call from Virginia placed by the nephew of a 95-year-old patient here
who had severe dementia. He was making arrangements to get her on an airplane and move her to Ohio to be with two brothers she hadn’t seen in 15 years and to live out her remaining days. Dawn took extra care to go over what the patient would need: did she have a doctor and medical group, a senior HMO plan, necessary medical equipment, her medical record copies and medications for at least a month? “I was really touched by what he was doing for her and encouraged him that he was doing a good job. You could hear the relief and comfort in his voice once he knew that everything was handled,” Dawn recalls.
Kathy shares that what sets Dawn apart from many other good employees is the way she views every opportunity. She adds, “Dawn goes past the task in front of her to see the larger picture and determines if the processes in play are effective. For example, Dawn noticed a trend of patients being re-admitted to the ED from the SNFs, and researched the reasons and treatments/tests done. Dawn realized that a urinalysis was not usually done on older females (or males) who came in to the ED with vague complaints of weakness or falls. Dawn pursued this oversight, advocating for the ED to complete urinalyses, resulting in avoidance of urinary tract infections turning into kidney infections and re-hospitalizations.”
Kathy continues, “Dawn carefully reviews each patient’s progress notes and looks for opportunities to make suggestions and spur staff to give the most excellent care they can. In multiple peer reviews, Dawn’s coworkers freely and enthusiastically state how much they look up to her and see her as an example.”
Dawn’s approach involves treating everyone she works with and serves with dignity and respect, having a “Let’s try it” attitude and exploring all funding avenues, and being collaborative so that she gets the whole picture. As a result, coworkers and colleagues see her as the “go to” person for their most challenging continuum of care issues.
“For the patient who would otherwise be scared and wouldn’t know where they were going after leaving the hospital, Dawn is on the phone asking, ‘How can I help?’ and saying, ‘I’ll be here to see you through,’ providing options and plans. She’s very good at that. She doesn’t wait for them to come to her, but instead takes the initiative,” states Linda Simon, Vice President, Mission Services.
Her ability to serve others so effectively stems from 14 years at St. Joseph Hospital and 20 years in case management. To tackle often-challenging cases, Dawn’s strategy is to “look at the end.” She explains, “My mind is always working on what we want the final outcome to be. We recently had an unfunded patient whose stroke had been so severe and further physical therapy was not going to help. His home health physical therapy coverage was exhausted and we had to stop. It’s a delicate balance, but I knew we had given the family the tools to continue therapy on their own, and that the patient was safe.”
Dignity - Marie Polhamus, MPC, BCC
Service - Dawn Hyatt, RN
Excellence - Sy Amirpooor, Pharm. D.
Justice - Noemi Vidal, MS, LMFT