Posts by mariahmcclerkin

Dietra Turner, a 71-year-old medical-surgical unit secretary at HCA Florida Blake Hospital in Bradenton, woke up one morning with severe chest pain. Recognizing the seriousness of her symptoms, she sought emergency medical care right away. Over the next two days, she underwent testing and monitoring. Her physician ordered an emergency heart catheterization. The procedure was successful,…

Beth Lange, a billing reports analyst for the Tampa Shared Services Center, began experiencing seizures out of the blue. She endured six relentless months of tests, specialists, and hospital stays, all while scrambling to find a new home when the one she and her family were renting was suddenly sold. Beth found herself out of…

‌Ericka Graves is a certified nursing assistant at HCA Florida Ocala Hospital and has been with the hospital for nearly six years. She describes her job as “very busy,” as she actively takes care of patients and ensures their safety and happiness. Recently, she was enjoying some family time with her daughter at a waterfall,…

This year, Brandee Hammontree, manager of oncology data and accreditation at Sarah Cannon in Kansas City, Missouri, experienced a fainting episode and was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism – she needed extensive medical care. Shortly thereafter, her husband, David, was in a terrible accident after he hit a snowy pothole, resulting in punctured lungs, broken…

Celeste Diaz is a charge entry specialist at Methodist Stone Oak Hospital in San Antonio, Texas. Earlier this year, her husband, Ben, experienced an unusual bout of fatigue, and Celeste noticed a droop on the right side of his face. “I knew he needed immediate medical attention,” she said. Ben was diagnosed with a stroke,…

Kendra Bauer, a NICU nurse at St. David’s Medical Center, is married with two children – Renee, 7, and Clark, 3. Throughout his life, Clark has faced developmental challenges – he had difficulty walking, wore leg braces, and required speech, physical and occupational therapies. One day, Kendra noticed what looked like a strange bug bite…

Vince Clemens, a nurse at HCA Houston Pearland in Texas, had shoulder pain, which gradually developed into adhesive capsulitis, commonly known as frozen shoulder. He said, “The pain felt like a knife digging into my tissue.” His range of motion was limited, and steroid injections failed to provide relief. ‌ The prescribed solution? Six weeks…

Jerry, a veteran and nurse with HCA Houston Medical Center for five years, began to experience persistent nausea and abdominal pain. He learned his white blood cell counts were highly elevated, and over a few weeks, he tried multiple courses of oral antibiotics without much improvement. He said, “I showed up to work one day,…

Karla is a Customer Support Specialist based in Missouri. She helps source supplies for clinics and hospitals, she explained, “anything from a Band-Aid to a syringe to a suture.” At a recent family reunion, Karla joined in on a game of kickball and took a hard fall, fracturing her humerus in two places. The pain…

Ryan O’Sullivan has been a Consultant Systems Engineer with HCA Healthcare in Tennessee for over seven years. He also lives with a disease called osteomalacia, often referred to as “soft bone disease.” Treatment for his illness has included complex surgeries and procedures. In his most recent procedure, he experienced severe complications – a pulmonary embolism…