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As a floater, Rosa Barragan, RN, Staffing Resource Office (SRO), jumps in wherever there is a need. She has made an impact on many team members, even if they only work together for a short amount of time. Rosa received multiple nominations for her recent DAISY Award for the assignment of a lifetime: She accompanied a Spanish-speaking patient who needed around-the-clock care back to her home country of Mexico. Read a sample of one nomination below to see what made Rosa’s journey so memorable.

“Last spring, a Spanish-speaking patient was admitted to UVA with severe conditions. She had no funding for post-hospital care, was not eligible for U.S. government funding, had no family in the U.S. to help her, and wouldn’t be able to care for herself at home. She wanted to return to her family in Mexico but had no way to get there.

“After much work with administration and the Mexican consulate, it was decided that the consulate would pay for the patient to fly home and UVA would pay for someone to accompany her. This is where Rosa comes in. Rosa is an SRO nurse who floats to 6 Central from time to time and was often assigned to this patient when she was here. Rosa is fluent in Spanish (the patient is Spanish-speaking only), and the patient was always happy when Rosa was her nurse. Rosa heard about the patient’s plight and volunteered to accompany the patient back to Mexico.

“First, this involved a Saturday trip to the Mexican consulate to get the patient a passport. Rosa arrived an hour earlier than expected, got the patient bathed and dressed and fed and administered her morning medications and got her up in her wheelchair ready for the wheelchair van. Then, an ambulance showed up. Rosa, forever the patient advocate, said she was not going to take the patient through the consulate flat on her back on a stretcher when she was perfectly capable of sitting up in a wheelchair and insisted on a wheelchair van. The change was made, and they set off for the consulate. Luckily, the patient had an appointment scheduled and the visit there went remarkably smoothly. Rosa and the patient were back in just a few hours, passport in hand. Rosa had already gone above and beyond, giving up her Saturday to help the patient get one step closer to getting back to Mexico.

“Then, they had to actually fly to Mexico. Rosa came by 6 Central the day before the planned trip to make sure the patient had copies of her important medical records and all of her medications ordered and prescriptions filled and had clothes to wear and bags to carry everything. The patient did already have a backpack and small duffel bag and social work was getting her a third bag for all of her medications.

“To be clear, this was not going to be an easy trip. The patient often required two people to assist with her transfers from chair/bed to wheelchair and back and Rosa was going to be doing this on her own. She could be incontinent of urine. She was on a special diet. This was going to be a difficult trip and the plan was to depart the hospital the next morning at 3 a.m., so Rosa wanted to make sure everything was tucked in.

“Again, on the day of departure Rosa showed up early, this time with a large duffel bag of her own in hand so that all of the patient’s belongings could be in one bag. Rosa got her packed up and dressed, checked all the paperwork, and they set off.

“At the airport, Rosa finds out that the tickets the Mexican consulate purchased were not seated together. Again, Rosa was a great patient advocate, explaining that she was the the patient’s caregiver, specifically hired to care for this patient during this flight and needed to be seated with the patient. The airline tried to tell her there was nothing they could do, but she would not accept this and pushed until they were able to be seated together.

“The patient was very anxious about the flight and Rosa held her hand and provided emotional support the entire flight. When they arrived in Mexico, they were met by the patient’s sister and an ambulance. Rosa reviewed all of the paperwork, including history and medication instructions with both the ambulance team and the patient’s sister. She wished patient well and said goodbye. Over four months after her initial admission to UVA, the patient was finally home.

“Rosa spent one night in Mexico and then was back on a plane at 5 a.m. to return to Virginia. She was stopped at customs because her passport showed such a quick turnaround. Luckily, she was not detained for long. Once she explained her situation, she was cleared to re-enter the U.S.

“Rosa gave up her weekend and hours of sleep to help care for a woman who had no help. Rosa went so far above what is expected of a bedside nurse, it is almost indescribable. When I tried to thank Rosa for doing this for our patient, she told me, ‘Oh no, you don’t have to thank me. The smile on the patient’s face when she arrived was thanks enough!’ I cannot imagine someone more deserving of a DAISY award.”

Nomination edited for clarity.

Know a fabulous nurse?
The Professional Nursing Staff Organization honors up to two UVA RNs each month with a DAISY Award. Nominations may be submitted by patients, patient families, visitors, and fellow UVA team members. Learn more at uvadaisy.com.