Congratulations to our recent STAR Award winner for Excellent Experiences, Charley Bautista, Social Worker, Allied Health and Patient Flow, Casey Hospital.
The Excellent Experiences award is for an individual, group or team who has made a positive impact on the experience of our people, patients or consumers. This may include:
- Delivering a consistently excellent experience for our people, patients or consumers.
- Improving the quality and consistency of consumer or employee experience.
- Going the extra mile for the sake of others – displaying respect, humility and kindness
Charley has been working with a patient in his early 60s for 8 months after he experienced a catastrophic stroke. The patient has severe neurological deficits, which impact his mobility, communication and function in daily occupations. Charley and the whole Ward H team have worked skilfully and tirelessly with their patient through a Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) pathway and National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) pathway, despite challenging behaviours and difficulty for the team in building rapport.
The patient has very limited social support and throughout his extended admission, has had minimal visitors, apart from his mother. Late one Friday afternoon Charley learnt that the patient’s mother had unfortunately experienced a catastrophic stroke. The patient’s mother was in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Dandenong Hospital and would likely be extubated for end-of-life care in the following days. Despite finishing work for the day, Charley informed the ward and advocated for the patient to be able to visit his mother in her last moments.
Charley’s support led to a string of escalations and approvals to ensure the patient could be with his mother before she was extubated. This included the nurse in charge escalating the case to the medical team and the Director of Clinical Operations (DCO) to obtain approval and coordinate the patient’s travel to Dandenong Hospital with a nursing escort.
Because of Charley’s commitment and dedication to her patients and her role as a social worker, the patient was able to spend Mother’s Day morning at his mother’s bedside holding her hand. The patient was also supported by the presence of a familiar Associate Nurse Unit Manager (ANUM) from Ward H.
Congratulations to Charley for winning this STAR Award!
If you would like to nominate a colleague or team, you can do so at any time by visiting the STAR Awards portal. For more information about the STAR Awards program, Monash Health Employee Recognition Program page.
Approved by Chris McLoughlin, Executive Director, People and Culture