Chasity Sanchez, LVN, and Claudia Jensen, RN

WellMed nurses provide special care for patient coping with dementia on his own

By Mary Heidbrink

Nurses fill many important roles in health care, especially when it comes to helping patients in need.

WellMed nurses Chasity Sanchez, LVN, and Claudia Jensen, RN, are the only two nurses at WellMed at Paseo De Dia in Las Cruces, New Mexico, but their busy schedules never stop them from doing whatever it takes to help their patients.

Such was the case of an 82-year-old widowed military veteran, who lived alone in Las Cruces. His closest family lived in California, but were not able to visit often. Though the patient stayed active with woodworking and gardening, he had several chronic conditions and was a regular at the clinic.

“When he first came to see us, he was showing some cognitive symptoms and we were keeping an eye on him,” Chasity said. “I worked with him closely and had been to his home a couple of times to do a home visit.”

It was after he missed an appointment at the clinic that the nurses realized the patient needed more help.

“He was coming to see us and forgot how to get to the clinic,” Chasity recalled. Frustrated, he turned around and went back home. “We found out when we called him to ask what happened.”

The situation came to a head after he got sick and Chasity sent prescriptions into the pharmacy.

“The pharmacy called to say that he hadn’t picked them up,” Chasity said. “By this time I was communicating with his daughter in California, so I called her.”

After letting the daughter know what was going on, Chasity picked up the medication and took them to the patient’s house, where she noticed he didn’t seem to want to do anything for himself.

Because he was retired military, the patient officially received his health care through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), where getting an appointment at the small Las Cruces clinic could sometimes take months.

“He liked being with us because it was convenient for him,” Chasity said. “But he had to stay with the VA to get it paid for.”

As a solution, Claudia, who as an Air Force veteran, is familiar with the ins-and-outs of the military health care system, set up a video link with one of the nurses at the VA clinic to keep track of his referrals, appointments, medication refills and, if necessary, arrange transportation if he needed to go to El Paso for an appointment.

“It was a lot of steps and information, which was overwhelming for him,” Chasity said. “He didn’t have anyone helping him do those sort of things.”
Though the patient’s family eventually moved him to California to be close to family, Chasity helped with the transition.

“He hadn’t changed his primary care physician yet and I wanted to make sure they had everything they needed,” Chasity said. “The new doctor set up a camera so we could meet with him in person.”

Both nurses are glad their patient is with his family.

“His daughters and grandkids are close by to make sure he’s taking his meds and making it to his appointments,” Chasity said.

To read more WellMed stories, visit agehealthystories.com.