Eli Award Presented for Compassionate Care
| Dec. 18, 2015 | Three UAMS Medical Center employees were honored Dec. 14 with The Eli Award for going above and beyond to care for two hospital patients.
Sonia Criswell, R.N., Amber Danner, R.N., and Libby Grobmyer, associate clinical chaplain, received the awards.
“These women exemplify the loving, compassionate care our family received when our twins were born. We are honored to see them recognized for their contributions to creating an environment of patient- and family-centered care at UAMS,” said Jodie McGinley, mother of Eli McGinley, in whose memory the Eli Award was created.
Criswell and Danner, both RNs on F4, were honored for helping a patient who lost her right arm from injuries suffered in a traffic accident. Her father also was hurt in the accident and was brought to UAMS.
The two were traveling from Maine and had no other family nearby. The woman’s wife and her three-year-old son came from Maine and spent most of 18 days at the hospital with the patient. Criswell, Danner and other nurses on F4 took the family in and cared for them in ways that went beyond the care given their seriously injured patient.
Criswell washed the family’s laundry at her home. The nurses also got a Halloween costume for the son and planned a special Halloween trick-or-treat event on the unit, giving other patients on the unit candy to hand out when he knocked on their doors.
Grobmyer was recognized for her compassionate care of a patient being treated for widely metastasized cancer in the final weeks of her life. The patient was responsive and alert when she was admitted, but it was clear the patient’s condition was terminal. A dozen or so family members came with her to the hospital when she was admitted and helped her get settled in.
As the patient neared the end of her life, the family didn’t have the financial resources to travel back and forth from south Arkansas to be with her. To keep her from feeling alone, staff on the unit kept the patient’s door open and made extra efforts to spend time in her room, going there to complete their documentation and other desk work.
While the patient’s immediate family didn’t have a cell phone, but there was a phone at the patient’s mother’s home. Nurses and staff used their own phones to call the family to give updates. They also put their phones to the patient’s ear so her mother could talk to her, soothe her, sing to her and just tell her how much she was loved.
During these conversations, the patient’s mother asked that her daughter not die alone. Grobmyer made sure someone was at this patient’s bedside — day and night — for three days. She arranged for chaplains to be with the patient so the nursing staff could continue working with other patients.
In January 2015, Jesse and Jodie McGinley created The ELI Award in memory of their son and to honor the UAMS and Arkansas Children’s Hospital (ACH) employees who helped them cope with the loss of their infant son.
Eli and his twin brother, Walker, were born at UAMS on Aug. 3, 2009. Eli was born with severe spina bifida and was transferred to ACH for observation and surgery soon after he was born. Within days, Eli’s prognosis rapidly deteriorated and the family made the decision to allow Eli to give the gift of life through heart valve donation.
The Eli Award is presented to UAMS employees who create extraordinary moments for our patients and their families in a time of need. Employees, patients and families are invited to submit nominations for The ELI Award. To nominate a UAMS colleague, submit the story at pfcc@uams.edu.