Morris Hospital ER nurse cares about patient outcomes

A former Morris Hospital emergency department nurse said she won’t take no for an answer if improving patient care is at stake.

“If I hit a roadblock, I find another avenue to ensure patients are getting the best, evidence-based care, care that’s proven to be effective,” Vanessa Read said.

Read was an emergency room nurse for 11 years – eight years at Morris Hospital – before transitioning into Morris Hospital’s nursing supervisor of emergency services in October 2023.

During that transition, Read also became the hospital’s Stroke & SANE (Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner) coordinator.

Anthony Bucki, director of emergency and trauma services at Morris Hospital, said Read is “really passionate” about her work, always doing the best for her patients, and a role model for her children.

Bucki said he can envision Read in his role one day.

“She’s a real go-getter, very self-motivated,” he said. “She takes on projects, finishes them to completion and just does a really great job.”

Since coming into her new role, Read said she’s “made it my passion” to streamline care and collaborate with Morris Hospital’s comprehensive stroke center, which is Ascension Saint Joseph-Joliet.

[ Morris Hospital re-certified as primary stroke center ]

Read said it’s imperative stroke patients receive care “as fast as possible.” The risk of brain damage increases the longer the blood clot is in the brain, she said.

“With stroke patients, time is tissue,” Read said.

Read said she’s worked at creating standing orders, improving workflow and working with the stroke team, especially neurologists and neurosurgeons, to expedite care, especially for patients who require a high level of care: patients with a brain bleed or large blockage in an artery.

“We get them over to St. Joe’s as fast as humanly possible to, hopefully, improve the outcomes of these patients,” she said and added, “I personally know people who have not had good outcomes with stroke and I don’t want that for my community.”

Helping assault victims

As the SANE coordinator, Read ensures SANE nurses in training receive the proper instructions and fully understand the type of care they need to provide to victims of sexual assault when they come to the emergency department.

With sexual assault patients, the focus isn’t on speed. It’s on spending necessary time with them because no one reacts to trauma in the same way, Read said. Not every patient wants to talk.

“We have a really fantastic group of dedicated, compassionate and enthusiastic nurses to care for patients when they present after such a traumatic event.”

—   Vanessa Read, Morris Hospital Stroke & SANE coordinator

“As SANE nurses, our job is to have compassion and sit down and meet people where they are at.”

SANE nurses educate patients on their rights and what’s available to them. This could be prophylactic medicine to prevent pregnancy or collecting evidence if they want to pursue litigation, Read said.

“It’s really patient-centered care, making sure they’re emotionally and physically stable,” she said, “and meeting them where they’re at and helping them through the process.”

Morris Hospital has nine nurses who are either certified in or in training for SANE. Read said several obstetric nurses are interested in SANE training, too.

It takes six to 12 months to complete training and become certified as a SANE, she said.

“Our team continues to grow,” Read said. “We have a really fantastic group of dedicated, compassionate and enthusiastic nurses to care for patients when they present after such a traumatic event.”

Read originally wanted to be a veterinarian, but she loved medicine and realized she could “make a big impact” by working with doctors in the emergency department.

Read said the emergency department always called to her because amid the “chaos and trauma”, she was helping to save the lives of people in the community.

“It’s the best feeling to know you’re part of saving someone’s life,” she said.

She wants anyone who comes to Morris Hospital’s emergency department to have “amazing care, whatever the need is.”

“Overall, I’m really proud of this hospital,” Read said. “I love my co-workers and work with some absolutely phenomenal people. We all have that common goal – a lot of us live in the community – to care about the outcomes of patients. I’m very, very proud of that.”