Good Samaritan – Rita Leming
Congratulations to Rita Leming, an RN on 4D, for being honored with the Good Samaritan Award. Please see the nomination below to see why the Employee Recognition Committee selected Rita as an award recipient.
“On 4D, we had a patient that was admitted to the hospital and presented with NSTEMI. The patient was found to have severe multi-vessel disease and needed CABG. The patient was to get a balloon pump placed and CABG procedure in November. Over the weekend, the patient verbalized to staff (Rita) she was concerned who would take care of her 1-year-old miniature yorkie named Huckleberry. She originally had a plan for friends to watch the dog, however the patient’s friend didn’t anticipate keeping the dog for more than a couple days. She was unwilling to keep Huckleberry for the length of her hospital stay or rehab need thereafter, and the patient’s family lives out of state. This patient was fearful and concerned, as she was critically ill in 2023, was hospitalized for over 30 days, and lost her dog due to that. She didn’t want the same thing to happen to Huckleberry. Rita selflessly volunteered to foster Huckleberry during the patients hospital stay and during her stay at swing bed after, so the patient wouldn’t have to worry about potentially losing her pet if she had the surgery she needed to have. The patient is currently at swing bed rehabbing so she can get back home to her Huckleberry, and Rita is currently taking care of Huckleberry in her home with her other pets.” – Niki Doscher
“Rita always provides wonderful patient care and patients are always thankful for her caring demeanor. Recently, I was working with a patient in 4D, and the patient mentioned she had a yorkie dog named Huckleberry she was not able to take care of while she was in the hospital for open heart surgery. The patient then pulled out her phone and showed me photos of Rita caring for her dog. She said she did not know Rita before this hospital stay. She said when she awoke after surgery that Rita was there and she expressed her concerns about her dog to Rita. Rita has been caring for her dog since and the patient has felt so relieved that her dog is being cared for while she is recovering. Med Center is blessed to have nurses that go above and beyond for patients, especially outside of the workplace.” – Kassidy Miller
