of the Year

“Rhea is consistently
gentle and kind to
patients. She seeks out
patients in need of
palliative care so that
she’s become the ‘go-to’
person in her unit.”
Erik Fromme, MD
“Rhea constantly amazes
me with the way she will
step out of the box in
supporting our patients
that are in the process of
passing away.
Unfortunately, in our field
this is something that all of
us are touched by, losing
patients we have come to
know and care about
deeply. There is nothing
worse than the feeling that
you cannot help someone
any longer, but Rhea
teaches us constantly that
care doesn’t stop just
because we can’t fix
things anymore as we are
taught to do as
providers. ”
Carol Jacoby, ACNP
“I was 35 years old and a stay at home mom caring for 3 young boys and never even
considered a career in nursing. I was content being a mom. My life changed when I was able
to care for my grandfather during his last days of life while on hospice.
My grandfather was 90 years old, tired and felt his quality of life had changed because he could
no longer do the things that he loved doing, such as woodworking. He was spending most of his
days sitting in his easy chair with a clear mind but a body that would not work any longer. He
got pneumonia and made the decision that he did not want to take antibiotics to treat it. He
made the decision that this would be the end of his life. He orchestrated what he wanted at the
end of his life. He was on hospice at home surrounded by his family, friends, music and
laughter.
Little did I know that as I was going thru this process at his side, I realized my passion. The
moment he took his last breath, I knew I wanted to go to school to be a nurse. To care for
families and patients who are going thru this process. Understanding the peace that the patient
and family has when you know the patient is doing it the way they want. He gave me this gift.
I started working on the bone marrow transplant team 15 years ago and now work in triage in
the Center for Hematologic Malignancies Clinic. I am called "mother" Rhea in the clinic because
I treat all patients and their families like they are my own. I watch over them and try to help
them while they are going thru their courageous battle of bone marrow transplant.
Over the past 15 years I have witnessed many patients, whose treatments were no longer
working, die in the hospital, or worse, at home without support or hospice/palliative care. Our
patients have special needs with low blood counts and receive platelet and blood transfusion
regularly. They fear stopping the transfusions at the end of life because of comfort and
the possibility of bleeding to death.
I have a dream and vision for OHSU regarding caring for our patients at the end of their lives. I
want to build a relationship with home palliative and hospice teams, possibly having a contract
between OHSU and home palliative care/hospice (hospice will not pay for blood
transfusions) that would enable our patients to get the blood products at the end of their life
and yet get a hospice/palliative care team in their homes earlier to help them find their way to
peace and grace. We have palliative care at OHSU that is great, but we need to have a team in
the home with eyes and ears looking for problems, so that we can avoid crisis at the end of life.
Bottom line, if we were able to get data looking at how much money we spend at the end of life
with hospital stays, tests etc…we would consider thinking outside the box. We would probably
save money for everyone and meet our patients’ needs better at end of life. It is a win-win.”
Rhea Geelan