Thinking outside the box to help a patient find his way home
Just after midnight, emergency department nurse Christine Ruiz-Salcido at UCHealth Parkview Medical Center met an older patient who had spent the day wandering the streets of Pueblo. Sunburned and exhausted, he couldn’t remember where he lived.
The only clue he could offer was simple.
“It’s a brown building.”
He couldn’t remember an address or even the name of the facility he was staying at. Instead of accepting that answer, Ruiz-Salcido opened Google and began pulling up photos of every skilled nursing and assisted living facility in Pueblo. Together, they looked through each one until the patient recognized a familiar building.
“I thought, ‘Well, he may not remember the address, but he knows what it looks like,'” Ruiz-Salcido said.
She called the facility, confirmed he was one of its residents and, after his medical evaluation showed he was stable, arranged transportation through his MedRide program so he could safely return home that night. Instead of waiting until morning in a busy emergency department, the patient was able to return to the comfort and familiarity of his own home.
“It’s really rewarding because so many patients simply want to get back to their own bed if it’s safe for them to do so,” she said.
Ruiz-Salcido never expected anyone to notice the extra effort.
“I was just trying to help my patient,” she said.
That quiet determination has guided her career from the beginning. Born and raised in Pueblo, Ruiz-Salcido graduated from Colorado State University Pueblo and has been an emergency department nurse for nearly three years. Before becoming a nurse, she worked at Parkview as a nursing student extern on Five Tower.
Her path into nursing was inspired by a nurse who cared for her after the birth of her son.
“I remember thanking her, and she told me, ‘I was just your cheerleader,'” Ruiz-Salcido said. “That stayed with me. I wanted to be that person for someone else.”
Today, she has found her calling in emergency medicine and recently became one of the department’s trauma nurses. She also enjoys precepting new graduate nurses and helping them build confidence.
Ruiz-Salcido is equally quick to recognize the people who support her.
“My night shift team is incredible,” she said. “They’re supportive, encouraging and they know how to make each other laugh. We help each other through the hard moments and having that kind of team makes you want to keep getting better.”
The colleague who nominated Ruiz-Salcido through the Celebrating You program praised her “outside-the-box thinking” and determination to help a vulnerable patient safely find his way home. Her compassion, creativity and commitment reflect the extraordinary care that UCHealth team members provide every day.