Winter storm inspires staff and patient heroics
January 24, 2012
Amid blizzards, ice storms, and severe power outages, Group Health staff displayed exceptional character and movie-like heroism to serve patients.
At Burien Medical Center, a patient arrived by snowmobile for an appointment
They say the definition of character is doing the right thing when no one is looking. And last week—amid blizzards, ice storms, and severe power outages—staff displayed exceptional character and movie-like heroism to serve Group Health patients.
Anesthesiologist Stephen B. Lee, MD—who lives in Seattle—spent nearly two hours on various modes of transportation, and on foot, scaling steep, icy hills, before arriving at Tacoma Medical Center (TSC) to perform surgery on a patient who was driving in from Olympia. “When Dr. Lee walked in, the staff started clapping,” said General Surgery Coordinator Rosemary Long. “Dr. Lee is a hero,” said Christina Buzzard, an administrative specialist in Surgical and Anesthesia Services.
“All the anesthesiologists come from the Seattle area and truly sacrificed their own safety to take care of patients,” Long added. She also noted that, besides the anesthesiologists, several dedicated TSC staff braved hazardous road and weather conditions, some traveling long distances, in order to care for Group Health patients.
At the Outpatient Surgery Center at Central Hospital, staff braved the elements and worked tirelessly during the storm. In fact, on learning that the storm was imminent, members of the surgical staff stayed overnight at the facility, said Veronica Gray, the center’s manager.
At Bellevue Medical Center, Anesthesiologist Michael Karbowski, MD, stayed at a hotel in Bellevue one night because he was worried he wouldn’t be able to get in to perform an early morning pain block for a patient. The patient had the same idea, but couldn’t find a hotel room. So, after slogging through the snow from Federal Way the night before, she and her husband spent the night in their car in the medical center’s parking garage. “I greeted her at 6:30 a.m., gave her and her husband hot coffee, and got her pain block done first thing,” said Dr. Karbowski. “She was pleased and grateful that our staff was there to care for her, and I got a big hug and loads of praise about Group Health.”
Northgate Medical Center's Sheila Markman, a physical therapist, trudged in snow and ice to personally deliver prescription pain meds to a homebound patient who had myriad medical problems, including a herniated disk. “I’ve been a patient for 30 some years, and Sheila has always been such a giving soul,” said the grateful patient. "I don't know how I can ever thank her enough for this."
Perhaps the most compelling event during the storm was a Group Health patient, a baby boy, who entered the world in a service elevator that got stuck somewhere between the twelfth and fourteenth floors at St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma. “This happened during the height of the snowfall,” said Emalee Danforth, CNM, a Group Health midwife who delivered the 7 pound, 15 ounce newborn.
