Diane Hynes, RN, CEN, CPEN, knows that on any day she might see a three-hour-old baby who was born in the ED or someone who is 17 and a half years old, practically an adult. Whether it’s a fall from the monkey bars, an emergency due to chronic illnesses, an infected lobster bite or a four-wheeler crash (“I hate four-wheelers”), the pediatric emergency care coordinator at Pen Bay Medical Center in Maine, needs to be ready.“There’s a lot to know,” said Hynes, who has worked all but one year of her five-decade career at Pen Bay.
Hynes shares her knowledge readily at Pen Bay, where she is currently the pediatric emergency care coordinator, making sure nurses are prepared, equipment and supplies are appropriately stocked, and that relevant policies are in place. In May, Maine’s Always Ready for Children program designated Pen Bay as the second in the state to be a Pediatric Innovator, based on its high score on the Pediatric Readiness Project survey.
Pen Bay, which saw approximately 2,700 pediatric patients in its ED last year, is about two hours from the next hospital and about four from a children’s hospital.
“If you don’t have what is needed for a baby or a child, you’re just lost,” Hynes said.
While Hynes’ official position as pediatric emergency care coordinator is relatively new, it reflects work she has done for decades. She writes a monthly column in the work newsletter covering pediatric topics and guides newcomers.
“Whenever someone new comes in, I grab them and give the shpiel and make sure everyone knows where everything is,” she said.
Hynes is currently developing a plan for visiting, in person or virtually, other hospitals to help them improve their pediatric readiness. She wants other hospitals in rural or remote locations to know they can do it, too.
As Hynes’ nursing career progressed, she and her husband also raised a family. She can empathize with parents whose children are critically ill or injured or whose children do not survive. Hynes and her husband had seven children, one of whom died of SIDS at five months old. Another child died in the neonatal intensive care unit, and one of her sons has Down syndrome. Parents might be scared, don’t understand what their child is going through, or they need to be heard.
“You have to listen to the parent,” Hynes said. “They often know better … and sometimes they don’t.”
It’s important to learn from the parent, who is the advocate and guardian, she said. Nurses can be those advocates, too, especially helping parents who need more information or understanding.
As her children got older, and she had more time for herself, Hynes joined ENA. She said she always had access through work to ENA publications, but once a member, she discovered additional benefits, such as attending conferences and gaining CEs.
“I found I could be a part of a bigger community statewide and nationwide at a time when ED medicine is always changing,” Hynes said. It is so valuable to learn how other departments are managing changes in health care.”
Hynes said she loves nursing and the ED, and she has always been passionate about pediatrics. She earned her nursing diploma from Northwestern Hospital in Chicago in 1974—“I went to Chicago for the excitement,” she said—and then moved to New Jersey for a year before moving to Maine. She has worked at Pen Bay Medical Center ever since.
“I have no plans of stopping,” Hynes said, “I have no plans to leave here.”