Nona’s Story: HomeHealth Nurse Visit Leads to Life-Saving Care

Elena Gomez, RN, wears the dark blue scrubs of a ChristianaCare nurse, but Nona Lerza sees her as even more.

“I call you an angel,” said Lerza, who credits Gomez with saving her life.

Gomez, a ChristianaCare HomeHealth case manager, regularly visited Lerza, at her home in Middletown, Delaware, to check her blood pressure after a hospitalization.

One day in February, with bad weather on the horizon, Gomez phoned Lerza to see if she could stop by for a check-in.

That call – and Gomez’s persistence – turned out to be lifesaving. During her visit, Gomez found Lerza’s blood pressure was high – high enough to warrant emergency care.

Lerza wasn’t eager to return to the hospital. But she trusted Gomez, and the strength of that connection convinced Lerza to heed Gomez’s advice and head to the emergency department.

After arriving by ambulance, Lerza underwent quadruple bypass surgery at Christiana Hospital. Her cardiology team agreed – Gomez saved her life.

Fully recovered, Lerza is now back to living independently in her home.

“There aren’t enough words in the dictionary to say all she did for me,” Lerza said.

“She closed my house up. She did everything for me that night and I can’t thank her enough. It seems very hollow to say thank you. But if she hadn’t come, I don’t know where I’d be today.”

For Gomez – a second generation nurse – working as a HomeHealth nurse gives her the chance to build lasting relationships with patients.

“We are here for the community; we are here for our patients; we are here for the families,” she said, “and we will do everything in our power to help them get better.”