Highlights in patient navigation: Samantha Horn at Frey Village (post-acute care)
Samantha Horn, a first-year student in Penn State College of Medicine’s MD program, recently shared highlights from her patient navigation experience at Frye Village, part of the post-acute care patient navigation hub in the Science of Health Systems course.
Horn wrote, “My patient navigation story began at the start of October 2018, when I came to the nursing home to get introduced to the facility as well as introduce myself to my patient. She was not in her room when I was looking for her, but we found her in the chapel with one of her daughters and her grandson, who is an excellent musician. They were gathered around the piano as her grandson was playing a wonderful song. The first thing I noticed was how my patient’s face was completely lit up, smiling and watching her grandson in awe as he played the piano for her. This showed me from our first interaction how much of a strong connection she has to her family. At all of our following interactions, her family has always been her main focus. I have loved hearing all about her three children, all of her grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren. She has told me all about their careers, relationships, hobbies and so much more.”
She continued, “We spend hours talking about her past family vacations, birthday parties and visits here at the nursing home. She used to be a teacher up by Penn State undergrad and she has told me all about her teaching and the wonderful students she had. She is an avid reader, and most days I come visit we start by talking about what book she is currently reading. She loves telling me enough about the book to get me interested in the story, but not enough to spoil the ending. I have even brought her one of my favorite books to read because I thought she would like it. As a result of her condition, she does not have much control of her hands, so she cannot do many of the things she used to love doing, such as painting and knitting. Reading is something that she is still able to do, and so she spends much of her time here with her head in a book. It has been a joy getting to talk with her each time I come to the nursing home and hear her incredible story. She has shown me how important it is to stay strongly connected to your family, as she still calls her family on a regular basis and her daughters come and visit her regularly.”
Horn concluded, “Even though she has had a very difficult time coping with living in a nursing home instead of on her own in her old apartment, we always find things to talk about that bring a big smile to her face and get her mind off of everything else going on in her life. I cannot wait to continue to get to know my patient through my Patient Navigation experience.”
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