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Jennifer and Paul Garvey came a long way. The day before Hurricane Katrina made landfall in New Orleans, they packed up their car and their two dogs and made their way to safety. Their first priority when they reached Florida was to see a high-risk obstetrician because Jennifer was in her second trimester with quadruplets. “Everything was fine, but it was still the middle of hurricane season in Florida and we were living in a hotel,” Jennifer said. With family in Marblehead, they made their way to Massachusetts and got an appointment at BWH’s Connors Center for Women and Newborns.
Jennifer checked in to CWN-8 in September, and last month, she gave birth to two boys and two girls. “Everyone here has been just great,” Jennifer said. Meg, MaryKate, Patrick and Jack were born Nov. 21, spent two days in the BWH NICU and were transferred to North Shore Medical Center in Salem.
BWH physicians and nurses went above and beyond the call of duty in caring for Jennifer and making her comfortable thousands of miles from home. Thomas McElrath, MD, an attending physician in the Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine, began her prenatal care “from scratch,” she said. “It’s not like I could call my hospital in New Orleans and say, ‘Can you all send my medical records up here?,’”
In addition to providing top-notch care, patient care coordinators Carolyn McNally and Maureen McCabe rallied CWN staff and threw a baby shower for Jennifer, who is a hematology/oncology nurse at Children’s Hospital in New Orleans. “This experience will make me a better nurse. All the doctors and nurses here are great. I never felt rushed and always felt like I was a priority,” she said.
Jennifer and Paul, who is a teacher and track coach at a Catholic high school in New Orleans, plan to return home as soon as they can.