Focused care helps family battle cancer, aphasia

Developing a connection between caregivers and patients where people feel they belong is very important to successful patient care. We want everyone to feel welcome in our facilities because we are dedicated to improving their health.

One such connection was made when Sabine Barnes was admitted at Hillcrest Medical Center for surgery after doctors identified a mass in her brain roughly the size of a lemon.

Originally from Germany, the 63-year-old immigrated to the United States and settled first in Alabama and later in Tulsa, Oklahoma. A former smoker, Barnes had a history of COPD and lung cancer. Three years earlier, doctors believed her lung cancer had metastasized in the front temporal lobe of her brain.

Barnes had surgery to remove the brain tumor, but when it returned, she was admitted for a similar surgery at Hillcrest Medical Center followed by inpatient care at Kaiser Rehabilitation Center. After surgery, she developed aphasia, a communication disorder that occurs when the parts of the brain responsible for language are damaged.

“The staff took such great care of our family,” recalled Barnes’ daughter Jenny. “Not only did they take care of my mom, they also took care of my dad. At the time, Mom didn't talk well because of her aphasia and was only answering with single words.”

One morning a therapist arrived at the room and asked about Barnes’ language skills. Mr. Barnes detailed her symptoms and mentioned that she was German. The therapist immediately asked Barnes questions in fluent German. To everyone’s great surprise, Barnes answered back in German with complete sentences!

The differences on our teams are valuable assets and can bridge a divide to help the communities we serve feel heard and seen. In this case, a caregiver fluent in another language helped a patient communicate in a way that was more comfortable to her – critical in the engagement of the care she received.

Today, Barnes continues to grow stronger following her surgery and can now answer in full sentences, in both English and German.