It’s not unusual for Derrick Christor to have a pressure-packed work day.
A member of the JPS Health Network’s Environmental Services team, it’s his job to make sure Emergency Department examination rooms are cleaned as quickly as possible after one patient leaves so another can be moved in to be seen by doctors and nurses. Sick or injured people are counting on him to work quickly. Before he finishes one room, he’s often already received a request to start on another. When his eight-hour shift is complete, he’s cleaned 30 rooms – nearly one every 15 minutes.
But Derrick said his everyday concerns seemed like nothing compared to those of a woman he encountered one recent day in the ED. She was frantically looking for her young adult daughter who she learned was brought to JPS in an ambulance after suffering a seizure. As a parent, he couldn’t help but imagine the stress the woman was going through while trying to find her child to make sure she was going to be alright.
“She was very nervous and upset and asked me if I could help her find her daughter,” Christor said. “At that moment, I couldn’t think about the rooms. I just knew I had to help her find her baby.”
Environmental Services Assistant Director Emmett West said he wasn’t surprised to see Christor spring into action, personally leading the woman on a search that lasted for about half an hour.
“He’s only been here for nine or 10 months, but I can honestly say that he’s one of the best employees I’ve ever had,” said West. “He’s all business. He’s the guy you want in there for you when something needs to be taken care of. He saw someone who needed help and he didn’t have to think twice. He took it upon himself to do the job and stuck with it until the problem was solved.”
Christor learned that the patient had been assigned a room in the ED. But when he and the patient’s mom arrived, the daughter was nowhere to be found – although her jacket was in the room. The mother panicked, fearing her daughter had wandered away. Christor calmed her as he checked with the nursing staff to unravel the mystery: The patient had been taken to radiology for X-rays. Derrick led the woman to her daughter to the great relief of both.
After he brought the family back together, the mother told Christor “I wish there were more people like you in the world.” That was the last time he saw her. But West said the woman called JPS later to compliment and thank her helper.
This week, Derrick was recognized during the JPS Patient Safety and Quality Control Committee meeting for going above and beyond his normal duties to help the patient and her family member in their time of stress. Some days his job isn’t easy, but he embraces the responsibility he’s been given every shift.
“I really love my job at JPS,” Christor said. “It’s a lot of work, but it’s the kind of job where the day goes fast because I stay busy. Getting to help someone is just a bonus. It feels great to make a difference and I would do it again in a second.”