By Margo C. Pope
Editor’s observe: This is the seventh story in The Record’s annual “10 Who Make a Difference” collection in the course of which we spotlight persons who have created contributions to our community.
10 Who Make a Distinction
When the COVID-19 pandemic forced most several offices to near and workers to get the job done remotely, Jessica DuFresne was not just one of them. She was on the occupation in Flagler Hospital’s emergency treatment middle as nurse supervisor.
A registered nurse, DuFresne, 35, is a person of 10 Who Make a Variance in St. Johns County acknowledged by The St. Augustine File.
The pandemic early on offered numerous worries for healthcare facility employees in patient treatment.
“Every day you came in, there was a thing new to study or to tweak …” she stated. “It was new to everybody and we have been all mastering at a swift tempo.”
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Nangela Pulfsus, Flagler Wellbeing+ government vice president of affected person treatment providers and main medical officer, described DuFresne as “a leading-executing young nurse, pretty client-centered, a really humble person.”
In her position as ER functions manager, DuFresne is portion of Flagler’s incident command device. Pulfsus gave the pursuing examples of DuFresne’s leadership through the COVID-19 pandemic:
- She and her team established the hospital’s COVID screening system so the public would not have to come in the ER. “She did a wonderful occupation minimizing that approach so that the person by no means experienced to leave their automobile,” Pulfsus stated.
- She structured a 10-bed device in the ER at the starting of COVID for ER sufferers with COVID signs or symptoms, so they were not aspect of the standard inhabitants.
- “She also was jogging an lively crisis office via two surges of COVID,” Pulfsus said.
“I delight in operations and location up the procedures,” DuFresne claimed of her position. Several departments — ER, Laboratory, Registration, Observation — came together for the open up-air screening.
“Sometimes, when we believe of COVID, we only think of the ER or ICU, but it took everybody coming collectively to make it do the job. As a leader, I can’t do it without the need of the crew, so they should have it all,” she mentioned.
An early achievements for the tests was when 300-additionally vehicles confirmed up and all tests ended up done in underneath four hrs, she explained.
As COVID improved demand for far more staff within the medical center, Flagler partnered with St. Johns County Hearth Rescue (EMTs and paramedics) to administer tests, she explained.
Following 14 months, DuFresne explained, “although the figures have long gone down drastically, COVID is nonetheless here, and it has improved the way we do medicine.”
In addition to the infectious ailment protocols regarding COVID, team understands ER individuals might appear in with a lot more than a healthcare difficulty.
“People might have shed jobs or maybe, their spouses are unable to do the job mainly because of COVID, or they are having treatment of relatives customers,” she claimed. “We have assets to enable as a result of Care Link (a local community alliance), but they might not know how to community them. So, when they arrive in, we can choose care of the entire bundle not just what they arrived into the ER for, health care grievance-smart.”
DuFresne will often be in ER medicine. When she was in nursing university, she worked weekends as an ER tech. She achieved her husband, Morgan DuFresne, there in 2007. He worked weekends as an EKG tech. He is completing his residency in crisis drugs at Tampa General Healthcare facility. He starts off work with a Northeast Florida unexpected emergency medication follow later on this 12 months.
“As prolonged as I can bear in mind, I preferred to be in the ER,” Jessica DuFresne said. “It just is our lifestyle, possibly we are a distinct breed, I’m not sure, but I do adore it. We have a particular option to take treatment of individuals when they are owning their worst working day and assistance give a minor little bit of hope on that working day. I can’t see me not becoming in the ER.”
Household
Spouse: Morgan DuFresne stepdaughter, Shae DuFresne daughter, Avery DuFresne, an additional baby on the way mothers and fathers: James and Mary Henson, East Palatka. Mary is effective in health care data at Flagler Hospital.
Profession
Flagler Clinic Crisis Care Center nurse manager
What enthusiastic you in your job
In fourth grade, I wrote that I required to be a nurse. I experienced an aunt (Carolyn Davis) who was an LPN and worked in an ER in South Florida. She encouraged me.
What advice have you presented colleagues in the course of the pandemic
Encouragement. You did it! You produced it about a 12 months in what will most very likely be the craziest calendar year of your health-related occupation. Maintain your head up large with pleasure knowing you touched a lot of individuals and family members in a 12 months when so many essential you.