Excellent care in every encounter

“I consider every day I am alive as a moment of grace.” That’s Linda Montecillo RN, an outcomes coordinator at PeaceHealth in Ketchikan, Alaska.

Linda is the sort of person who looks for moments of grace as she walks through each day. She found such a moment recently as she was making rounds in the medical/surgical unit at PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Center.

“I stopped by a patient’s room and asked about her care; she told me ‘Everyone here is great, my care has been excellent, from ICU (intensive care unit) to Medical/Surg (medical/surgical unit).’

“She had two family members visiting and the atmosphere was warm, comforting and most especially loving. Then something caught my attention—there were golden stars taped on the window. She noticed where I was looking and shared the story of the golden stars.

“The young children in her family made the (paper) stars. Our patient put a PeaceHealth caregiver's name in each star and hung them on the window. There were more than 30 stars, which meant our patient had over 30 different staff encounters, from doctors, nurses, environmental services, food service, physical therapy, respiratory therapy, X-ray. Each caregiver had received a golden star.

“To me, that was a moment of grace. We cannot put a price tag for that shared journey. We may not realize what, how or when we touch peoples’ lives. It’s encouragement to continue to carry out our mission of loving, caring, treating, relieving and promoting health through Jesus Christ,” said Linda.