Right at Home Mission Moment for Miss P.

Creating extraordinary experiences to improve the quality of life for those we serve 

Miss P. and her family came to Right at Home after Miss P. received a very tough cancer diagnosis that resulted in hospice. Miss P. receives most of her care from friends and family, while Right at Home provides Miss P.’s daughter respite through overnight awake visits here and there.

After a particularly challenging week, Miss P.’s daughter requested a change in Right at Home’s schedule. However, due to the stress of caring for a loved one on hospice, she forgot the change was made.

One evening, Miss P.’s daughter called the 24-hour office line to ask when her mother’s caregiver would arrive. Crystal, the on-call nurse for the evening, informed Miss P.’s daughter there was not a caregiver scheduled to stay with Miss P. overnight. Miss P.’s daughter was incredibly frustrated, and she took that anger out on Crystal, including a promise to never work with Right at Home St. Charles again.

Crystal let Miss P.’s daughter vent, apologized profusely, and offered to contact the Right at Home St. Charles superhero overnight hospice caregivers. Given the late hour, Crystal was predictably unsuccessful. Knowing how exhausted Miss P.’s daughter was, Crystal texted some encouragements and assured Miss P.’s daughter someone would be there to care for her mom as early as possible the following morning. Miss P.’s daughter seemed to calm down a bit and accepted that offer.

Staffing Coordinator, Tiffany was at Miss P.’s house by 7:10 a.m. Miss P.’s daughter immediately tried to send Tiffany away, but Tiffany was determined to right the situation, saying, "nope, I'm coming in, getting you a cup of coffee, and staying until you don't need me." Miss P.’s daughter relented, and Tiffany got to work doing exactly as she promised.

Miss P.’s hospice team was supposed to be at her house that afternoon, but Miss P. was physically in a rough state and very anxious when Tiffany arrived. Tiffany called Claudia, a nurse for Right at Home St. Charles, who dropped everything she was doing and arrived at Miss P.’s a little after 8:00 a.m.

Tiffany and Claudia got Miss P. cleaned up, began soothing her, and successfully reduced her anxiety. These ladies took an emotionally charged, traumatic event for Miss P. and her family, and created the best possible experience they could for everyone involved. Because of their commitment, Miss P.’s daughter asked that Right at Home St. Charles extend their visits to every other night.

Right at Home St. Charles Owner, Kirsten Pahde, said this of her team:

“I'm sure I haven't fully expressed how amazingly our RAH Team pulled together to not only provide excellent care but to assist this client's daughter to manage her exhaustion, come up with a solution so we don't have this happen again, and use their experience and tenacity to work through this potentially disastrous situation. I could not be more proud to work with our team.”