Nurses show generosity

This Christmas, nurses in the University of Kansas Hospital’s telemetry unit extended their gift giving beyond their own family members.

Nurse educator Leah Dickter, RN, MSN, PCCN, organized an adopt-a-family project through area nonprofit Don Bosco.

“I thought it would be a good idea,” Dickter said.

The unit purchased gifts for a single mother and her three children ages 13, 15 and 17.

Dickter said she hopes the gifts will help the family while the mother gets back on her feet.

“She escaped domestic violence,” Dickter said.

Within the first week of donations, the telemetry crew brought in more than $300 in cash and $70 worth of Price Chopper gift cards. KU Hospital gave Price Chopper gift cards to its employees for Thanksgiving, and Dickter said some of the nurses on her unit donated those gift cards to the adopted family.

“It was really nice,” she said.

Dickter extended the invitation to give to the family to all members of the telemetry unit from technicians to physicians. She said she has received a tremendous response.

“It’s been really great,” Dickter said. “There’s even a couple of medical students that I’ve roped in.”

Telemetry Nurse Manager Craig Shipley, RN, said the adopted family helped bring the unit together.

“(Dickter) has gotten everybody on board,” Shipley said. “We are all contributing.”

Shipley commended Dickter for organizing the project.

“We’ve done it a couple of times in the past but this is the first time we’ve had more global involvement from the staff,” Shipley said. “It’s an opportunity for all the staff to really rally around a family in need.”

Dickter took donations for the family through Dec. 18 and then purchased gifts for the mother and children.

“They had a list of needs and a list of wants,” Dickter said.

A member of the telemetry unit will deliver the gifts to the family on Christmas Eve.

Dickter said the donations and gift giving lifted spirits throughout the unit. Telemetry can be a tough floor on which to work, she said. Dickter’s unit had experienced five deaths in two weeks when the adopt-a-family project began.

“Having something positive in lieu of everything that’s going on helps keep the staff morale up,” Dickter said. “It keeps things in perspective too.”

Dickter recommends that other nurses organize to adopt families in their units during the holidays.

“I feel like people generally like to do the right thing, you just have to push them in the right direction,” Dickter said.

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