SPECIAL HONORS: Phlebotomist
Ruth Pacini (Photo by Jay Paul)
Getting blood drawn can be scary, but Michael Edelstein knows his patients at Shady Grove Fertility-Richmond will have a pleasant experience thanks to phlebotomist Ruth Pacini.
“Ruth really cares about our patients,” he says. “If she has concerns, she will take [the patient] in a room and have them lie down so they will be comfortable. If they are overly anxious, she will offer them something to eat or drink. She is very calming and makes it so that it’s not a traumatic experience.”
Pacini, who works for Lab Corp. but is stationed at the fertility clinic, also provides patients with information about insurance coverage and out-of-pocket expenses. “There are thousands of blood tests, and she is very knowledgeable,” Edelstein says.
He likes having her as part of the professional team, he adds. “She is someone you can trust who treats patients kindly and professionally. If she has to stay late for a patient, she never complains. She’s always willing. She’s like a mother to all of us.”
Pacini became interested in becoming a phlebotomist 17 years ago when she was living in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and took her then-6-year-old daughter to an emergency room. “They were trying to get her blood, and by the third try, I was getting upset. I was thinking ‘Do you know what you are doing? I’m sure I could do a better job,’ ” she says. “That was my motivation.”
After learning the profession and training at Mercy Hospital in Scranton, she eventually moved to King William to be closer to her brother and parents and began working for Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg on the 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. shift. A single mother of three, Pacini also worked a second job as a phlebotomist at a Fredericksburg nursing home from 1 a.m. to 6 a.m.
Pacini left Mary Washington to work in a local obstetrician’s office before moving into her position with Lab Corp. She continues to work in nursing homes from 1 a.m. to 6 a.m. and at Shady Grove from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. “I get about four to four and a half hours of sleep a night,” she says. Whenever she can, she also helps her father in his care for her mother, who has dementia.
Working in the nursing home gives her a different perspective on life, she says. “Even when I’m tired and have legs that ache, I see people in the nursing home who don’t have a leg. I don’t complain. I just keep going.”
Pacini says she “can’t imagine what her patients at Shady Grove are going through. I know that has to be scary. I try to comfort them. I reassure them I will take care of them.”
Lisa Edmonds, fertility nursing coordinator and team leader at Shady Grove, finds Pacini reliable and always helpful. “Our patient population is often going through an emotional roller coaster,” she says. “They are either nervous about having blood drawn or the results they got. She is a friendly face, calming and reassuring.”
