'Tireless' Physical Therapist 'Makes Us Very Proud': Chicago Hero

CHICAGO — Fred Rogers told a story on his children's show Mr. Roger's Neighborhood about being scared as a child when he saw something upsetting on the news. "My mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping,'" he told his audience. Though we're now living through an unprecedented health crisis, at Patch, we want to help you look for the helpers in your own community, so we've launched an initiative to recognize these everyday heroes.

This submission comes from Cindy Nelson, who nominated her daughter Megan Kennedy, an inpatient physical therapy coordinator at UI Health in Chicago.

"Her courage, kindness and dedication to other is exemplary," Nelson wrote. "She makes us very proud."

Here's what some of Kennedy's coworkers wrote:

“Megan created and initiated the proning protocol with intubated COVID-19 patients in the MICU overnight. She intensively trained and staffed the COVID ICUs with proning teams. During the first week of proning Megan was present, supervising and extended her hours and days to ensure the success and safety of all involved in the proning process. All of this was in addition to managing an entire staff of physical therapists. Our team is beyond grateful for her tireless efforts!

“Megan Kennedy has always been an exemplary leader, frequently going above and beyond to support her staff and ensure positive patients outcomes. That being said, it came as no surprise to me that, in the face of new challenges given the COVID-19 outbreak, Megan has shown steadfast leadership and commitment to both patient and staff safety.

Last Sunday, Megan was tasked with creating and implementing a proning protocol for our most critically ill patients who are intubated with ARDS due to COVID-19. By Wednesday, Megan, along with nurse educator, Dan Martinez, developed and implemented a full protocol that was ready to be adopted by the care teams. She spent countless hours researching, coordinating with various teams, including nursing, respiratory, and anesthesia, and training the 8 inpatient physical therapy/ occupational therapy prone team volunteers. As a direct result of her leadership and efforts, we now have an ICU prone team available for proning and supinating COVID-19+ patients 7 days per week for extended hours.

This standard of care truly would not have been possible without Megan's incredible efforts. She deserves to be recognized for the continued differences she makes in the lives of patients at UI health. She always has been and continues to be my UI health hero.”

Do you have a local hero you would like us to know about? Share their story here.

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