Jamie Ruhmshottel, BSN, RN-BC
COVID-19 took the life of Ashley Buterman’s father-in-law early in the pandemic. In March 2020, he was admitted to The Mount Sinai Hospital (MSH) with symptoms of the infection. As Ashley explains, it was an emotionally challenging time. “Families were not allowed to visit, of course, and it was even hard to get updates,” Ashley says. “Once my father-in-law was placed on a ventilator, the brief calls we did have with him were over.”
Through a friend on the nursing staff at MSH, Ashley was connected to Jamie Ruhmshottel, BSN, RN-BC, a nurse manager at MSH, who was deployed to a COVID-19 unit and offered to take audio messages that were recorded by Ashley’s husband and his sisters and play them for their father. “Jamie let us know she did this, and even though my father-in-law could not talk, Jamie told us his eyes and breathing registered that he understood.” Sadly, he passed away ten days after being admitted.
“My family and I were so grateful for Jamie’s help,” Ashley says. “We did not get to meet, but we sent her and her team lunch, and we kept in touch occasionally for a while after that.” Little did she know that Jamie was to come into Ashley’s life again due to COVID-19, this time on a brighter note.
In late October 2021, vaccinations for children between the aged of 5 and 11 were authorized, and Ashley was determined to have her two children, in that age bracket, vaccinated. She tried a few walk-ins without success, and was getting frustrated. So she got in touch with a friend who connected her with a nurse who was volunteering in the pediatric vaccine pods at MSH. As Ashley was texting this nurse, she realized it was Jamie, the same nurse who had been so caring of her father-in-law over a year ago. Jamie was able to make an appointment for her children, and the two women met face-to-face in the pod.
“I was so excited to thank Jamie in person for two good deeds: caring for my father-in-law and then getting my children on their way to being protected from COVID. I am just so thrilled and reassured.”
Jamie, who has been at The Mount Sinai Hospital since 2008 and now works in an outpatient setting at the Mount Sinai National Jewish Health Respiratory Institute, is no stranger to accolades, having won the MSH Overall Department Award for Excellence in Nursing in 2015.
“The beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic was such a scary time,” she says. “We were just beginning to take care of these very sick patients and learning how to do so safely, while at the same time acting as family for them, many during their last days. I did not have to think too hard about my care. If a family member of mine was in a similar situation, I would hope hospital staff would be compassionate and treat them in the same way.”