It was May, a typical workday for Kayla Carpino in her role as RN Manager at Neighborhood Health Center Riverway. Kayla was on the clinic floor when she saw a provider flagging her down. The provider told her a patient was in the office and wanted to see Kayla to thank her for saving her life. 

That patient was Terri (who requested we not include her last name), who weeks prior had called Neighborhood needing help. When an operator could not get through to a triage nurse quickly enough, they called Kayla. Kayla learned that Terri was passing out randomly throughout her day. Knowing something wasn’t right, Kayla wanted to call an ambulance right away. However, that wasn’t an option for Terri, as she is a caregiver to someone in her house and could not leave. 

Kayla needed to find another solution. Understanding that Terri would not be able to get to the hospital until her husband came home, Kayla’s second plan was to regularly check in on Terri. 

“I told her, ‘I don’t feel comfortable just ending this conversation, I am going to call you every 20 minutes until your husband gets home’,” said Kayla. 

Kayla called Terri three more times that day. Terri had passed out once between calls. On the third call, Kayla was able to speak with Terri’s husband. Kayla knew that he would be taking Terri to the hospital to get checked out. Following that, Kayla didn’t know what happened to Terri, which is often the nature of her job. 

“I’ve tried to call to tell her thank you, I don’t know where I would be if she didn’t call me and tell me to go to the hospital,” said Terri. 

It turns out that Terri needed a pacemaker. 

“She is an angel,” said Terri, about Kayla. “She saved my life.”

Because Kayla is less patient-facing in her current role, her connection with Terri is a reminder of how she cares and how she can still help patients everyday.

“It reignites the flame that started so long ago,” said Kayla. “It is nice to have those moments and know that you are helping somebody at the end of the day get through whatever they have to get through so that, for the time being, they are okay.”

Kayla has been a nurse for six years and joined Neighborhood’s team in 2021. Over the course of three years, she has gone from being a triage nurse, an RN supervisor, and currently, an RN Manager. 

Kayla always wanted to be a nurse. She credits her grandmother as the person that led her career to a mission-driven organization like Neighborhood. She described her grandmother as a grandmother to everyone. Throughout her life she witnessed her grandmother caring for everyone around her, regardless of who they are, and now Kayla carries on that spirit in her role at Neighborhood. 

“Taking care of patients is really huge for me, anything I can do to help them or to get them the help they need, that’s why I do this,” said Kayla.