Heather's Day at Harborview Medical Center

April 26, 2001

"Dad, mom says you need to call someone ... I forget who she said, but someone at your work about me coming with you to work on Thursday."

Ahh, "take your child to work" day was once again upon us. Heather has been asking to go with me the past 7 years and each year I had to explain she was not yet old enough.

"Dad, I really want to go to work with you!!! Pleeeaasssseee!!"

Well, she did just turn 13. I called up my department manager, but all I got was her voicemail.

"I tell you what, Heather, I promise to check tomorrow to see if you're old enough and , if you are, I'll get everything organized, okay?"

Heather was so excited. I tried to temper her with a "I'm not sure it'll happen", but to no avail. She was going to Harborview and I knew I was on the spot to MAKE IT HAPPEN.

Wednesday morning I started my shift in the Trauma Intensive Care Unit. I spoke with the charge nurse and she and the rest of the staff in the TICU were receptive to Heather coming for the day. I had asked how to make it official, and Deloris (one of the nurses) explained she just had her nephew visit and that I needed to get some paperwork from Volunteer Services.

After completing my morning chores, I had picked up the necessary paperwork, got the appropriate signatures from the unit nurse manager, and realized she was truly going to do it this year. I covered all my bases and spoke with nurses in all the ICUs and our department manager to be assured it was no problem to bring her through the hospital. I also made sure I had something to do after she would get bored - after all, a 12 hour shift is a long time.

Finally, at 3 pm, I called Heather at home,"Honey, get your scrubs washed, you're coming to work with me tomorrow!" (We had bought her a pair of scrubs at Sam's Club several years ago as pajamas). She not only washed her scrubs, but did all of the laundry she could find and ironed them!!!

Wednesday night we went through the paperwork. I explained patient confidentiality and what she was allowed to do. I told her what she might see and how she should react, to quietly leave the room if she were uncomfortable. When I asked her what she expected to see, I realized she hadn't a real idea.

"Well, tomorrow will be exciting for both of us, Heath".

My alarm went off at the usual time ... 5:15. I had rolled over and turned it off fully expecting to doze another 5 minutes or so as I normally do ..."Dad? are you getting up?", "um, yeah, honey, I'll be right out".

The ride into work was full of Heather boiling over with anticipation. She had modeled her finely pressed scrubs for me before we left home and was brimming with questions and imagining how her day would go. As we took report from the night shift, she nervously stayed close to my side and only began to open up to everyone after a quick trip to the cafeteria to get her something to eat.

It was then that I was paged to the TICU. As we walked into the room, several doctors were at the bedside removing an arterial line. Some bloody gauze happened to be on the bed and after I completed the chore I was called about, I turned to introduce her only to find she wasn't there. Ahh, there she is just outside the door. As I had told her to do the night before, she was uncomfortable when she saw the gauze and so stepped out as quickly as she came in.

Heather at the doors of the TICU

After that, I ran her down to Volunteer Services to turn in her paperwork and get her name tag. Then our day truly began. As I made my rounds to the patients, I introduced her to the nurses. They were delighted to meet her and were happy to answer her questions. She was pretty apprehensive to get too close to the patients initially, but she slowly began to warm up to the idea. When the initial rounds were complete, we looked at the chest x-rays and returned to the unit.

Joan and Heather

We took one patient to Cat Scan and back, I did oral care on a few patients, I did trach care on another and then I extubated - removed the breathing tube - of another. By then, Heather was by my side and even assisted the nurse by removing one of the patients restraints. The patient, an elderly women, had smiled and thanked Heather and told her she was a very pretty girl. Heather was beaming and thanked her for the compliment.

Holly and Heather

By now, it was 11:15 and Heather let me know she was ready for lunch. I had quickly finished a few more chores and then headed to the cafeteria to get her some food. We returned to the Respiratory Care Department's report room to eat and several of my workmates asked her how her day was. She shyly replied she was liking it and I was happy to hear that. I had thought she would have lost interest by now and was surprised she hadn't pooped out yet.

Ellen and Heather

When we returned to TICU, we took a patient to OR and then returned so that I could start my 2nd rounds. The Unit HA (Hospital Assistant) had Heather answer the phone and showed her how to use the intercom system within the TICU. As I completed my last oral care, Heather was right there insisting on cleaning up my mess (I made sure she double gloved and REALLY washed her hands before and after). She was no longer looking away as I suctioned the patients' airways and was finding things to do in the Unit that she felt would be helpful.

Heather and dad

I brought her around to the other ICUs and walked her through the ER, making sure my workmates were doing okay, then we took a short break on a patio area just outside of the west wing ICUs (it was a beautiful day, after all).

During last rounds, I brought my camera and we got several pictures of Heather with the TICU nurses. They were very kind to her the entire day and I think they enjoyed having her there almost as much as she did. I was genuinely proud of how she carried herself and for the enthusiasm she had for the whole 12.5 hours - that she even made it through the whole day was impressive. Several of the staff had expressed that she was always welcome to come back and all she could do was smile ear to ear and say she had fun.

Dale and Heather

Getting ready for report

hmmmm ... I think I see what the problem is

see, right there, obviously that's a left lower lobe infiltrate and upper lobe collapse

night shift is almost here and I still haven't finished my report sheet...MUST WRITE FASTER!

shh, shh, shh ..... um, hello, could you overhead page Freddie Prince, Jr. to this number, please

After we gave night shift report, we met Mary Ann for dinner. She was anxious for me to tell her mom about our day and she was very full of herself as I told her how proud of Heather I was.

"So, what does your dad do?"

"Nothing, he just plays with these machines and brushes people's teeth." Simple and to the point :)

As we got home at 9:30, Heather was pretty much wiped out. But she had an eventful, tiring day, but she insisted she wants to do it again real soon.

Thank you, Kathy, Cathy, Ronnie, Joan, Ellen, Deloris, Sue, Holly and Dale. You all contributed to Heather's day and both she and I appreciated it.