By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
There are more employees at Chicago's Rush University Medical Center than there are residents of Dowagiac.
Lara Tushla, 1987 Union High School graduate, is employee of the year.
Lara, daughter of Pat and Dennis Tushla of Dowagiac, landed on the cover of Rush's October "Newsrounds."
Tushla, LCSW, is a medical social worker in the kidney and pancreas transplant program.
According to Newsrounds, understanding and meeting a patient's needs before and after an organ transplant is as challenging as it is rewarding.
Tushla has been meeting that challenge for the past 10 years.
She won employee of the year for her success in advocating for patients in their most vulnerable moments.
Tushla is responsible for determining whether or not a potential transplant patient and his or her family are able to care for the patient after a transplant.
"In the pre-transplant phase, I complete a psychosocial assessment of every patient who is listed for a kidney or pancreas transplant," she says. "I focus on key areas that determine a patient's and family's ability to sustain a transplant in the long run. These include emotional and physical support after a transplant, the financial resources to pay for their anti-rejection medication, the patient's mental health, chemical dependency issues and the likelihood of following medical recommendations."
Post transplant, Tushla works with patients who have lost their insurance coverage, helps them find resources to obtain their medication, researches vocational rehabilitation and assists them in getting to doctor appointments.
Helping a patient navigate the murky waters of insurance coverage can be a fulltime job all by itself.
Tushla always manages to achieve some form of reconciliation with insurers for her patients.
Stephen Jensik, M.D. and Ph.D., of the university transplant program, nominated Lara, describing her as having the utmost respect for her patients.
"Many of our patients don't fully understand the ambiguous and complex terminology used in their insurance agreements," Dr. Jensik told Newsrounds. "Lara has the uncommon ability to interpret and verbalize these terms specific to each patient's level of understanding."
Dr. Jensik also says Tushla's eager to save the day for patients.
Many patients also lack the necessary funds to pay for their anti-rejection medicines, he said.
She works with several participating pharmaceutical companies to establish a patient assistance program so they can continue to take their medication.
Tushla says it's the little things in her job that keep her happy.
Like finding one piece of information a woman needed to pursue a transplant.
She was doing well on dialysis and didn't want to rock the boat with the insurance implications of a transplant.
"I did some digging," Tushla remembers, "and found she could get a transplant and keep her Medicare. It's been five years now and she's doing very well."
Tushla regards her work as a partnership with patients.
"A lot of my time is spent helping patients find the resources they need so they can stay healthy," she says. "Most of the time we can come up with solutions that will help keep the patients healthy and happy."
"Pat and I are extremely proud of her – especially knowing that there are more than 8,000 employees at Rush," says her dad Denny, a Dowagiac attorney.