Reading the room: Nurse helps where family needs it most
When a patient was in active labor, Jodi Heath, BSN, RN, stepped in to comfort their 2-year-old child, proving that care goes beyond the clinical routines.
As a nurse who cares for newborns and their families at University of Iowa Health Care's downtown campus, Jodi Heath knows that some of life's most meaningful moments can also be some of its most stressful. During one particularly busy shift, her ability to recognize what a family needed beyond medical care made a lasting impact.
Heath was assigned to care for the baby of a patient whose labor was progressing quickly. What can be an overwhelming experience under any circumstances was made even more challenging by a language barrier. The patient did not speak English, and while the spouse was doing their best to translate, the patient was experiencing significant pain.
While waiting to care for the newborn, Heath noticed a 2-year-old child in the corner of the room crying, terrified, and unable to be comforted by their other parent who was busy translating. As a mother herself, Heath’s instincts immediately kicked in. Since she wasn’t directly involved in the laboring patient’s care, Heath shifted her focus to comforting the child. She played peek-a-boo and asked a fellow nurse to bring toys to the room to help keep the toddler calm and distracted.
After the baby was delivered, the newborn required an urgent transfer to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the university campus. Recognizing the emotional moment unfolding, Heath offered to hold the toddler so the parents could spend those first precious moments with their newborn together.
“Even if [the toddler] didn’t really understand what was going on, they jumped right into my arms and smiled, as happy as can be,” Heath recalls.
Heath later received a DAISY Award after being nominated by a fellow nurse who witnessed her instinctive acts of kindness that day.
"A situation like this would be so scary for any child, and I can’t imagine how scary it was to not know the language of everyone in the room while your parent was in a great amount of pain,” wrote Heath’s nominator. “When I walked into the room, Jodi was playing peek-a-boo from across the room with the toddler to distract them, and the child squealed with joy when Jodi brought the toys.”
For Heath, however, stepping in to comfort a frightened child and support a family in a stressful moment wasn't extraordinary — it was simply part of how she approaches nursing.
Her philosophy is simple: Treat every patient and family member as if it's one of the most important days of their lives. In labor and delivery, she says, that mindset comes naturally.
"Even if I'm having a long week or I'm tired of doing the same thing over and over, I try to keep a good mindset and remember that the most important person in the patients' life is their new baby, and this is the best day of their life," Heath says. "I think that helps me bring positivity to everything and explain things in a better way when I imagine how I would feel in their situation."
That perspective has become even more meaningful since Heath became a parent herself, helping her bring an added sense of empathy to every interaction with patients and their families.
