Imani’s Story: Born to Work with Mothers and Their Babies

On the Mother Baby Unit of 3 Northwest at UC Medical Center, you’ll find Imani Rugless, RN, who has achieved high accolades since joining UC Health in 2019. Whether it’s compassionately caring for her patients or making her colleagues laugh with her natural humor, she touches the lives of everyone she meets.

Careful Contingency Planning Allows West Chester Hospital to Adapt and Improve

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, West Chester Hospital nursing leaders chose to think creatively, identifying new and innovative ways to respond to the healthcare needs of the community, support their employees and utilize internal resources to maintain quality, safe medical care.

While the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) remained the clinically appropriate place for acutely ill COVID-19 patients, another medical-surgical patient care unit that was built with all negative air pressure patient rooms (air pressure inside the room is lower than air pressure outside the room which prevents particles to flow outside the room) was designated to admit other COVID-19 patients who did not require intensive care. This unit was also modified to hold semi-private, double occupancy patient rooms allowing the hospital to adapt to high patient volumes.

To counter COVID-19 case surges and expected increased patient volumes, the Outpatient Surgery Unit was utilized as a “high-census” unit when needed to accommodate lower-acuity, non-COVID-19 patients for overnight admissions during high-volume peaks.

Cross-training was crucial. Clinical staff on the hospital’s Stepdown Unit, a unit that provides an intermediate level of care between the ICU and general medical-surgical units, were trained to work in the ICU to support critical care needs.

Nursing leaders also utilized the Maternity Services Unit for female gynecological and bariatric surgery patients whose women’s health nurses were able to easily accommodate. In the past, these patients were admitted to a medical-surgical unit.

Overall, the hospital’s ICU volume increased by 40% over original projections during the pandemic; however, through the strict processes and contingency plans put into place, the hospital was able to maintain quality patient care in all care areas without adjusting staffing ratios or altering care standards.

Daniel Drake Center Names First-Ever DAISY Award Winner

In June 2021, Daniel Drake Center for Post-Acute Care recognized Doug Ahlers, LPN, at Bridgeway Pointe Assisted Living, as its first-ever DAISY Award winner.

The DAISY Award honors nurses who provide above-and-beyond compassionate care to patients and families. Doug is described by his peers at Bridgeway Pointe as an “amazing all-around person, everything the award stands for, always puts his patients first, dedicated, loving, kind, sensitive to patient needs, compassionate, patient advocate, dependable and empathetic.”

Doug was formerly a dietary manager who saw a need for nurses. He wanted to care for people, so he became a nurse and did just that! He has been a nurse for over 20 years and has been a UC Health employee at Bridgeway Pointe for the past seven years.

Doug’s demonstration of compassion, dedication and empathy for his patients is truly remarkable and is a wonderful example of the world-class care delivered by our nurses every day.

Meet Rebecca Leach, CNP

Rebecca Leach, CNP, has been a registered nurse for 25 years and a family nurse practitioner for the past five years. She has been certified by the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners since 2016. Additionally, she has been an International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant for the past 15 years.

“I think it is important for nurses to become certified because it demonstrates that nurses have the knowledge and skills to provide high-quality care to patients,” Rebecca said. “Certification has given me a sense of accomplishment and shows that nursing is a profession that places value on competence and knowledge within a specialty area.”

To Rebecca, working as a certified nurse at UC Health, Cincinnati’s only academic medical center, is an honor. “I have always heard that when you are a nurse, you know that every day you will touch a life, or a life will touch yours. UC Health nurses provide that kind of compassionate care and obtaining certification shows that our nurses are leaders in their field and that there is a commitment to growth.”