One Visit, A Lasting Impression

A trip to the Sierra View Medical Center Emergency Department gave one family a new perspective on emergency care.

Vette in the Sierra View Medical Center Emergency Department shortly after her injury.

A day of riding a quad at the ranch took an unexpected turn for 9-year-old Vette when the vehicle tipped, leaving her with a double buckle fracture in her left forearm.

Her family brought her to the Emergency Department at Sierra View Medical Center on March 1, unsure of what the next few hours would bring. For Vette’s mom, Karen, previous trips to the Emergency Department had sometimes meant long waits and difficult experiences.

This time, she noticed a difference.

From check-in through imaging and splinting, Karen said the family was kept informed about what was happening and what to expect next. Nurses and Emergency Department technicians took extra care to explain each step directly to Vette in a way she could understand.

“They listened to her,” Karen recalled. “We felt seen, listened to and understood.”

Vette was evaluated by Emergency Department Nurse Practitioner Jurgen Hall, who also helped ease some of her fears following the accident. Hall shared that his own daughter, who is around Vette’s age, rides horses and encouraged Vette not to let one frightening experience keep her from doing the things she enjoys.

The interaction stood out to the family because it addressed more than Vette’s injured arm. It helped reassure a 9-year-old who had just been through a scary experience.

There was also one question Vette heard several times during her visit: Were you wearing a helmet?

Her answer was proudly “yes” every time.

During the visit, Sierra View’s team completed Vette’s assessment, vital signs and X-rays before placing her arm in a splint. From arrival to discharge, the family spent approximately three hours in the Emergency Department.

Vette with her bright pink cast following her visit to Valley Children’s.

Vette was then referred to Valley Children’s for outpatient orthopedic follow-up. Eleven days later, she received additional X-rays and a cast. With a double buckle fracture in her left forearm, Vette would spend approximately eight weeks in the cast as she healed.

Karen’s experience came during a time of focused improvement within Sierra View’s Emergency Department. In the months leading up to the May 14 launch of the new Emergency Care Journey, physicians, nurses and staff were already beginning to put new processes into place with a focus on reducing delays, improving communication and helping patients better understand what to expect throughout their visit.

For Karen, some of those efforts were reflected in the details she noticed during Vette’s visit — being kept informed, understanding what was happening next and seeing staff take the time to explain the process directly to her daughter.

The experience was especially meaningful because Karen remembered a very different Emergency Department visit more than a decade earlier. In 2013, while pregnant and experiencing severe sciatic nerve pain, she recalled waiting approximately seven hours to be seen. Other past visits had also involved waits of five to seven hours.

Because of those experiences, Karen came into Vette’s visit with certain expectations.

Instead, she described the experience as “night and day.”

Being seen more quickly made a difference, but Karen said what stood out just as much was how the team communicated with them throughout the process. They understood what was happening, Vette was included in conversations about her care, and the family felt their questions and concerns were heard.

For a 9-year-old with a broken arm — and a mom trying to keep her calm — those details made a difficult day easier.

What began as a frightening afternoon for Vette became an experience her family remembered for the care, communication and reassurance they received along the way.

For Karen, that one visit left a lasting impression.