Southern Indiana Business May-June 2020 | Page 49

Brooke Miller Wall Street Medical Group as a family nurse practitioner. Primary practice site is Sellersburg Healthcare Center Definition of leadership: My definition of leadership is taking initiative. Stepping up to help col- leagues/co-workers. Just because I started as a certified nurse assistant and now am a nurse practitioner, doesn’t mean I lose my fundamentals. I still answer call lights, assist the nurses and aides in turning/changing patients, providing wound care, getting a simple snack or drink for a resident. Small acts of kindness go a long way. How has the coronavirus outbreak impacted your life most and what will you tell future generations about COVID-19 from your perspective? The coronavirus outbreak has impacted my life the most by putting our daily routine on standby. It’s difficult not being able to see my loved ones on a regular basis. My children are missing their grandparents, their classmates and teammates. The outbreak has impacted my work life the most. Combating COVID-19 in a nursing home has a completely different approach compared to the nurses and doctors in the ER and ICU. Our goal is to protect our residents from the outside world. Our patients and residents’ families have not been able to visit for over a month now. Try explaining that to a patient with dementia that already has difficulty communicating their needs and wants. Several families often come into the facility to feed their loved ones. Therefore, we have had patients decline. They experience loss of appetite resulting in failure to thrive, feelings of depression and loneliness, mostly due to the change in their regular routine. Our residents rely on a stable environment day-in and day-out. This past week I started to see my patients via telehealth services to limit the face-to-face encounters with our patients and residents. As a pro- vider I often feel overwhelmed by the added documentation, daily changing CONTINUED ON PAGE 50 May / June 2020 49