From all of the doctors, nurses, technicians, aides, support staff, and administrators at Portneuf Health Partners, we wish you a joyous, peaceful and healthy holiday season. All of the employees who work here every day have dedicated their lives to caring for their friends and neighbors. While this work is our profession, it’s impossible not to be personally moved by the daily miracles and the daily heartaches that happen at Portneuf.
Today, we carry in our hearts the story of the family involved in a car crash. As the mom and dad wait in the emergency room, they watch their child fight for life. Our trauma team gives all they have to save the child’s leg and life. Our team administers care, compassion and guidance to her loving mom and dad. At that time, the family doesn’t care that over 90 percent of our ER patients see a doctor within 30 minutes, but we know and we are comforted in knowing she is in good, capable and well-trained hands. We are blessed that the family can see the effects of the commitment to patient care as their child is comfortable and starts to recover.
We recall the mom who was diagnosed with breast cancer. She is faced with surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatments. While we know that we follow national guidelines for cancer diagnoses and therapies and offer care that is on par with major cancer institutes across the county, we also know that the single word – cancer – is scary, overwhelming and life changing. We know she needs a hand, hope and a team dedicated to fight with her each step of the way. She may not care that a team of surgeons and oncologists are working together to plot a course of treatment that adheres to national standards, but she’ll take some comfort in knowing that she gets to sleep in her own bed and doesn’t have to travel for hours after a draining round of chemotherapy.
We are comforted in knowing that we care for our neighbors, our family members and our friends. We see the expectant mom and dad who are planning their new life with a first child, but then have a complication that requires a little longer stay for mom as she recovers from a C-section and their new born child to stay in our neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for twelve days. While our team in the NICU cares for our tiniest patients every day, we know this is the first time in the NICU for the parents. Mom and dad don’t know that our neo-natal intensive care unit cares for babies born as early as 27 weeks of gestation, but they’ll appreciate that expertise as the mom recovers from an emergency C-section done by a skilled doctor and their newborn baby rests peacefully in the NICU nursery.
Our hearts are with the gentleman who watches his mom fight the advancements of age. We offer attentive and gentle care. He may not be aware that our patient satisfaction scores are among the best in the nation, but he’ll feel the effect as nurses and doctors pay attention to detail and make his mom’s stay comfortable. Our employees carry all of these people in their hearts this season. These scenarios do not directly reflect one patient or family story, but they do represent what we prepare for as we walk into work every day. We prepare this way because our friends, neighbors and families deserve the best care possible, close to home. As your friend and neighbor, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.