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Patients Tell Their Stories - Steve Feldman |
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Modeling Excellence in Customer Service
This patient was impressed to observe Cooley staff offering great patient care
The job of seamstress doesn’t seem as if it would be a hazardous one, but it’s sure taken a toll on Julie Sanderson of Whately.
When Steve Feldman was recovering from the triple bypass surgery he had in May 2006, he visited Cooley Dickinson's Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation Department 10 to 15 times to learn how to safely use the treadmill and the stationary bicycle he had at home.
Using the equipment was recommended by his cardiologist, Dr. Mark Casey, and he'd promised his daughter Jessica that he'd make the effort to get instruction. So several times a week in September 2006, Steve made the commute from his home in Leverett to Cooley Dickinson to work out.
To make the time spent on the equipment pass more quickly, Steve made a habit of observing what was going on around him. What he noticed was that Cooley staff provide very good service to patients.
Steve noticed, for instance, how warmly staff greeted patients and how attentive the nurses were to patients' needs, and he saw how kind and clear the nurses were in offering up instructions.
He also saw the skill they had in encouraging people to work a little harder than they might be apt to, while, at the same time, letting them know not to push it. "They struck what I thought was a good balance," says Steve. "They're little things, but they mean a lot."
Steve is a realtor with Realty World Sawicki in Amherst, and he's married to Peggy Feldman. A year ago this January, he started noticing he wasn't feeling well. He was short of breath, and his thighs often ached when he walked.
Since Steve had had a heart attack in 1991, he recognized that the symptoms he was having were not good, and for a time, he did nothing out of fear. "That's the way the human person works," he says.
When he went to see his primary care physician, Dr. Harvey Lederman, Steve said Dr. Lederman had a great way of telling him he needed to check back in with Dr. Casey, Steve's cardiologist since the heart attack in '91: "He told me he needed to reintroduce me to the medical system," he says. "That was a perfect way to put it."
Dr. Casey performed stress tests and an echocardiogram and did not like what he saw; he sent Steve for an angiogram that clearly indicated a triple bypass was warranted ASAP. Steve had the surgery on his birthday, May 19, 2006. "It was a real re-birthday for me," he says.
Subsequent dental surgery, and Jessica's wedding delayed Steve in getting to the Cooley Dickinson Cardiac Rehab, but he began his work there in September 2006. He remembers that Reggie Stevenson, a nurse in the department, was the first person he met. Reggie was the nurse that Steve frequently saw there, and recently, he sent her a letter, thanking her for great customer service.
"I was very impressed with the whole program," Steve wrote. "The facility and equipment were more than adequate to do the job. Most impressive was the staff.
"Every person with whom I worked and met was very competent, professional and caring," he added.
Steve says the entire rehab experience was excellent. "It was very professional," he says. "When you were using the equipment wrong, someone came over to you. People were kind and clear.
"I got what I needed there," he adds. "They showed me how to use the equipment. They showed me how far I could go without injuring myself."
For the record, Steve is still exercising at home, and he feels great.
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