Nominated by Laura Gryder, Navigation Coordinator & Erica Valdez, RN

The Nor-Lea clinic team (Laura & Erica) would like to nominate Tessa Torres, PA-C for an exceptional care award.  We had a very young patient who had been diagnosed with a tumor in the leg. The patient had been transferred to UNM in Albuquerque and finally to UMC in Lubbock.  Not only was the patient battling a diagnosis but had numerous social concerns.  This patient was extremely distrusting and at times could be flat out defiant, which made it difficult for health care providers to meet the patient’s needs.  Originally, the plan was to amputate the leg, however, UMC was able to perform extensive surgery and salvage the leg.  This meant that the patient was to be discharged home with a temporary wound vac and over 20 sutures on a 14inch incision.  We received a call from the patient’s Medicaid care coordinator that the patient was discharged home post-surgery and was not receiving the proper care from home health due to the social determinants he was facing. So, we met as a team to come up with a plan of action.

Tessa immediately began investigating the temporary wound vac and reviewed patient’s complete case and requested that we attempt to have the patient come in for her to perform a follow-up. The care coordinator was able to bring the patient in for an appointment and allowed Tessa to meet with them both to come up with a plan moving forward.  In the beginning, the patient was extremely standoffish and wouldn’t even make eye contact with any of the employees.  The patient was closed off and very defensive.  Tessa agreed to see the patient regularly to tend to the vac and provide wound care to the surgical site.  She even agreed to remove the sutures for the patient.  Slowly but surely with her gentle nature, she won the trust of this patient.  The patient’s vac and sutures have been removed, the patient has come in regularly for wound care and has even agreed to come in to see the Nor Lea wound care team.  Not only that, in the midst of Tessa’s busy schedule, she took the time to meet the patient at wound care to ensure that there was a seamless handoff.  Tessa regularly goes above and beyond for our patients, but this case was unique.  She went above and beyond her expertise to learn about this patient’s case and created a unique relationship with this patient.  So much so, that the last time the patient came into NLCC, he allowed the nurse to administer his dressing change, which would have previously been disastrous, being that he did not have any trust in the team.  I believe that Tessa’s efforts created a positive clinical outcome along with building a relationship of trust with a very distrusting individual who deserved the same care as any other patient.  It has been very sweet to experience.  If Tessa had not done this, the patient may not have received the proper care and could very well have ended up with an infection or worse.  It was such an amazing thing to witness.  Gosh, Tessa, you are just amazing and such an asset to the NLCC team and most of all, to our patients!

“Be kind, don’t judge, and have respect for others—if we can do this, the world will be a better place. The point is to teach this to the next generation.” - Jasmine Guinness

Click here for a list of previous award winners