The nurses, techs, clerks, and advanced practice providers all eagerly gather at the end of the brightly lit hematology/oncology unit, awaiting a beaming patient with a triumphant smile. As I roll the patient’s wheelchair closer to “The Good Luck Bell,” the patient straightens up and reaches their arm to chime in celebration.
Patients ring the bell as they leave to commemorate completing their chemotherapy.
The staff erupts in spontaneous applause—for the strength and resilience of the patient, as well as for the teamwork behind the patient’s success. On unit 8 East of the U-M’s C.S. Mott Hospital, ringing the Good Luck Bell commemorates completing all of their rounds of chemotherapy—a treatment plan for blood cancer that can last months or even years.
The unit “mainly treats adult patients with differing types of blood cancers such as leukemias, lymphomas, and myelomas, and also gynecological cancers and gynecology/obstetric overflow,” explains registered nurse (RN) Adriana Preciado-Diaz. “All of our licensed professionals are trained in providing care for oncology patients and must do continuing education credits annually.”
Despite the rigorous nature of the patients’ treatment, the 8E unit and its sister unit 7W at Michigan Medicine have repeatedly achieved 99th percentile recognition in surveys that gauge patients’ satisfaction with their treatment, as well as with the unit’s staff, housekeeping, and more. I began working there in the summer of 2023 as a patient care technician.
When patients are admitted to the 8E unit, they are warmly greeted by an employee and begin to receive around-the-clock care. Throughout their stay, patients often remark how they relish their private, colorful, and spacious rooms with views of kayaks on the Huron River or helicopters landing at the Main Hospital.
The fondness the patients have for their health care team is reciprocated by the 8E staff. “You will never find more humble, grateful, and strong human beings,” says Haley Polenz, RN, explaining why she chose to specialize in oncology. “They inspire me.”
As a smaller unit in Michigan Medicine with about twenty nurses, four techs, and up to ten patients, 8E staff has a tight-knit bond. With personalized components such as a “friends and family” photo board, a birthdays and anniversaries poster, a bulletin board with more than fifty work-related “pick me up” memes, communal sweets, and monthly staff comfort rounds to share impactful patient experiences, the staff fosters relationships with one another that translate into collaborative patient care.
Valerie Convertino, RN, MSN, is the 8E workload chair—it’s her role to improve the scheduling and job satisfaction of her colleagues. “I have worked at Lourdes Hospital in New York, Cleveland Clinic, Georgetown University Hospital, National Institutes of Health, and Saint Joe’s … The care is superior at Michigan Medicine and the treatments are state-of-the-art,” she says. “This is the best staff I have worked with in my forty years of nursing. 8E is top-notch in both its knowledge and delivery of care.”
As I reflect on my experiences working as a tech on 8E, I would attest that the most rewarding part of the job is becoming acquainted with patients over the period of their treatment. Although patients may ring the Good Luck Bell as they leave 8E, we cherish the memories they leave behind.
