Teresa's Quality Care Story

Teresa Van de Castle was making her first trip to California’s Hi-Desert to visit her son, David, a Marine stationed at Twenty-nine Palms. They had planned to spend four days together, celebrating his birthday, but soon after her arrival she started running a high fever.

“I had been sick, but I was on antibiotics and thought I was getting better. The flight out here probably affected my lungs and I came into the hospital on Saturday morning with a temperature of 102.6,” she said.

With over 20 years of experience as a home care nurse, Teresa was impressed with the quality of care she received at Hi-Desert Medical Center. “I needed help and just from the beginning … when the doctor said, ‘We're gonna take care of you,’ I believed it.”

Teresa had to spend the rest of her visit in the hospital, but the nurses were able to make accommodations for her son to stay with her. “I told him this was one of the best Mother's Day's gifts … because he was able to stay with me while I was so sick.

“I'm in a Master’s program, so I'm studying that and a nurse needs to be competent, needs to know what their jurisdiction is, and how to fulfill that. And so following physicians' orders, but also being able to assess a situation, to be compassionate, which these nurses were. They all cared very much about my wellbeing ... and when they'd walk in, and before they left the room, they'd say, ‘Is there anything else I can do for you?’ When I left, it was kinda like leaving family, in a way, because they were all so great.”

Teresa made a full recovery and returned to Joshua Tree a few weeks later. “It was beautiful, and we enjoyed the night sky there,” she said.