FROM FAMILY TO
WORK FAMILY
A Day in the life
Of Libby Wenderski and the MPCU
The shift starts at 7AM. Two of her four kids need to be dropped off at two different schools before the 40-minute commute to St. Cloud Hospital. That means her little ones get a 5:30 AM wake-up. By then, Libby Wenderski has already been up for an hour to get her day started with some exercise.
Libby is an RN and the manager of the Medical Progressive Care Unit (MPCU) at St. Cloud Hospital. “One of my big goals through all of this was to not lose sight of myself and exercise has helped with that,” Libby explains.
She has other big goals, too, “It’s amazing the impact you can have on your kids when you’re positive, so I try to do that,” she says. “I’m not perfect at it, but I try.” That always includes hugs when she drops off her two youngest kids at school.
“Those moments when I’m taking my kids to school…I think about how I’m handing my kids off to someone else. It’s always a reflective moment for me before I make the commute to work.”
SUITING UP
The work day begins by checking in with her team. “On this particular day, I was working the charge nurse role. The report was that it had been a really difficult night,” she recalls. “It was very busy, with multiple patients who needed to be intubated and sent to ICU.”
Typically, the MPCU is an in-between unit, where patients are sicker than on a general unit, but not in need of ICU care. But during the pandemic, the unit was caring for all very ill COVID patients.
We’ve learned to talk with our eyes.
The MPCU is a hub of activity, with people buzzing 24/7 and specialists and support staff coming and going. But the nurses are always there. “If there’s one word I have for our nurses, it would be gratitude,” says Libby, reflecting on her nursing team. “I have any amazing group. I couldn’t have gotten through it without them.”
WORK FAMILY
During the course of a day, any day during the last two years, the stress was unlike anything that had come before. But the team leaned into one another and found a way to make it through. Some days, it was with a fanny pack fashion show or a hospitalist delivering food. The bonds deepened into a true work family.
NO BEDS
“All of the charge nurses from all the units met in Hoppe auditorium a couple times a day to talk about census, acuity levels and any concerns we had,” said Libby. “On this day, we had no beds available at the hospital for any patients to be admitted. It was a tough, heavy meeting.”
What do you tell your staff when there are no beds?
care team
In addition to the nurses and physicians, the care team on MPCU includes Nutrition Services, EVS, Pharmacy and more. And of course the Respiratory Therapists. The RTs played a vital role battling Covid. Not only did they perform their duties under extraordinary circumstances, they held patients’ hands, provided comforting words, and experienced both remarkable and heartbreaking moments.
People like Eileen Rebella make the MPCU not just a team, but a family. She brightens any room she enters, even though she does so with a heavy heart.
AFTERNOON
“In hospital medicine, we just take what comes in the door,” said Sarah Polcher, hospitalist who works on the unit. “It could be anything from heart attacks to sepsis patients on MPCU, but during the Omicron surge, we had a stretch where all our patients were COVID. Many would have typically been in the ICU where an intensivist would care for six of these types of patients. Instead we had one hospitalist taking care of up to 15 of these patients.”
This conference outside a patient’s room carried an all too familiar weight.
“Our charge nurses carry a different level of stress with the weight of every patient on the unit,” adds Libby. “I respect them for that and they are amazing people. When I leave, I know they have everything handled.”
“My drive home is definitely a moment to decompress,” says Libby. “I need that full 40 minutes. I’m fortunate because I have an awesome family, a great husband, and a supportive network. When I see my kids, everything becomes clear. Yes, I take care of patients and that’s my purpose at work. But my purpose in life is my family.”
HOW AN OATH BECOMES
OUR COMPASS
Thanks for sharing this Libby. You are an inspiration!
Great role model and supportive leader
Libby you are an inspiration and amazing nurse. Thank you for sharing your story.
Amazing Story