Employee Of The Month: Katie Fenstermaker

OPERATIONAL RECOGNITION | October 2019

NAME: Katie Fenstermaker

DEPARTMENT: Emergency Department

YEARS WORKED AT WAYNE HEALTHCARE: 7 Years

FAMILY: Husband-Mike, Stepdaughter-Samantha, Son-Matt, Daughter-Chloe and Granddaughters-Mila and Nora.

HOBBIES: Family time, boating, working out and reading.

REASON SELECTED FOR EOM: When leaving from work on Thursday, September 12th, I had to walk through the patient parking lot to get to my car. As I was walking through I passed a car that had a dog in it. (A large husky). The dog was barking and barking, the windows were cracked a little but not enough for as hot as it was on that day. I was worried about how long this dog had been in the car and if the person was going to be right back out or not. I was in a hurry to run home real quick, because I was coming back for the Women’s Night here at the hospital and my mom was going to be waiting on me. I went ahead and left and told myself that I was going to check to see if that dog was still in car as soon as I got back.

When I got in my car the temperature was 92°F. and inside the car was way hotter. I hurried home and got back and went straight to the patient parking lot and the car was still there but the dog was not in the car. I started looking around and I saw a Nurse walking a dog. I went up to her and asked her if that was the dog in the patient parking lot and she said yes…I was so relieved.

She said that the patient had an emergency and had to come to the ED, but had her dog with her and had to leave him in the car. The nurse said the patient thought she would be in and out of ED quickly, but after an hour had passed, the patient started panicking that her dog was in the car and that she needed to leave. She was not ready to be released from ED yet and she was afraid the dog may die in the hot car. This Nurse took it upon herself to go get the dog out of the car for the patient, to give the dog water and walked the dog until the patient was released. I asked her if she was scared that the dog might bite her and she said ”I was getting that dog out of the car, and if it was going to bite me I was right here by the ED.”

This very special Nurse that went above and beyond for this patient was Katie Fenstermaker. I want to nominate her for Employee of the Month for her kindness and bravery for helping this patient and saving this dog! Submitted by: Jenni Byers

VALUES DEMONSTRATED: Compassion, Kindness and Positive Attitude