Occupational therapist helps patients with clothing, a haircut and a coffee mug

One patient worried she didn’t have any clothes to wear when discharged from the hospital.

Another time, a patient fretted about needing a haircut before attending a funeral. In a third case, a patient was frustrated her condition left her unable to lift a coffee mug.

Lindsy Jeanneret, an occupational therapist at UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland, helps people who’ve been hospitalized get back to participating in life activities such as self-care, driving, work and leisure. As she works to rehabilitate their bodies and minds, she’s attentive to their distractions.

For the patient with nothing to wear besides a hospital gown, she found clothing.

“EMS had to cut her one set of clothes, which is common,” Jeanneret said, adding the patient didn’t have family available to help. “Every therapy session, she was worried about what she was going to wear to leave the hospital. It was emotionally overwhelming for her.”

Jeanneret coordinated with her co-workers and put together a small wardrobe, enough for three to four days, as well as personal items such as a toothbrush and stocking cap. Some items were from their own closets, others they purchased at a store.

“She was so grateful and thankful that she wasn’t going to have to worry about what to wear when she left the hospital,” Jeanneret said.

For the patient who needed a haircut, Jeanneret set up an appointment around his nursing care – at the hospital – with his stylist, who came and cut his hair.

And for the patient with trouble lifting her coffee mug, Jeanneret went to a store and, with her own money, bought the patient a big mug with a lid and handle that she could lift more easily.

“For me, it’s just helping people with the little things so that they can remove stress and focus on their health and recovery,” Jeanneret said.

Her manager, Nancy Cwiklin-Sanders said Jeanneret “consistently goes above and beyond for her patients,” adding that in another case, she gathered household items, personal items and more for survivors of a fatal fire.

“I think it is so ingrained in who she is, that she doesn’t even realize she is doing something great,” she said.

Jeanneret said she became an occupational therapist to be able to help others, “listening to patients and to help them accomplish their everyday and overall goals.”

Sometimes, she said, that even means offering pieces from her husband’s wardrobe to a patient – that is, for instances when she can’t make it to the store in time.