{"id":56555,"date":"2025-06-12T15:03:34","date_gmt":"2025-06-12T22:03:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/?p=56555"},"modified":"2025-06-16T12:02:48","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T19:02:48","slug":"sweet-home-girl-defeat-sepsis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/news\/sweet-home-girl-defeat-sepsis\/","title":{"rendered":"Swift Team Action Helps Sweet Home Girl Defeat Sepsis"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article\">\n\t<header class=\"header\">\n\t\t<span class=\"type\"><\/span>\t\t<h1>Swift Team Action Helps Sweet Home Girl Defeat Sepsis<\/h1>\t\t<time>June 12, 2025<\/time>\n\t<\/header>\n\t<div id=\"block_c12fb41289d357cbc4daa4d06c64a910\" class=\"shs-block block-news-article entry-content\">\n\t\t<div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"acf-innerblocks-container\">\n\n<p>The clock was ticking when a Sweet Home girl, Ava Murry, arrived at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Corvallis with severe leg pain. Thanks to one nurse\u2019s quick action and a cutting-edge protocol in the Emergency Department, Ava can tell the story about the day her life was saved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ava, who was 12 years old at the time, maintained a rigorous schedule, balancing cheerleading and volleyball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMy leg hurt really bad, but we thought it was from normal activities,\u201d Ava recalled of the initial symptoms. Her family first suspected a pinched nerve or muscle strain, but the situation deteriorated rapidly. Within 24 hours, she could barely walk so her father drove her to the ER.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI couldn\u2019t walk at all,\u201d Ava said. \u201cThey had to bring a wheelchair to get me into the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the Emergency Department, Victoria Churich, RN, immediately noticed Ava had signs of sepsis, a life-threatening condition that occurs when your body\u2019s response to an infection spirals out of control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more than two years, the Emergency Department at Good Samaritan has conducted intense staff training on its new code sepsis protocol. This protocol is unique in Oregon and has had a huge, positive impact on patient outcomes, according to program coordinator Brian Delmonaco, MD. The code sepsis protocol has been used more than four dozen times, helping the hospital earn a five-star rating for sepsis care and putting it on track to being recognized among the top 10% of hospitals nationwide for sepsis care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe have reached a statistically significant milestone,\u201d Dr. Delmonaco said. \u201cOur patients who have a specialized sepsis care team typically recover better from their septic shock and have a higher chance of survival and shorter hospital stay.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When Ava arrived at the Emergency Department on that December evening in 2023, Churich quickly followed the code sepsis protocol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cShe looked sick, and sepsis is drilled into our head \u2014 to always be on the alert for it,\u201d Churich said. \u201cIt\u2019s tricky because she\u2019s a kiddo. A lot of sepsis guidelines are for adults. In the ER, children\u2019s heart rates could be elevated because they\u2019re scared or in pain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That evening, Ava\u2019s mother, Tammy Murry, was at work in the hospital as a labor and delivery nurse. Tammy rushed to be at her daughter\u2019s bedside. As a nurse herself, she recognized that her daughter\u2019s body was shutting down from a hidden infection. Medical tests revealed that Ava\u2019s sepsis was caused by multiple internal abscesses in her hip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thanks to Churich\u2019s quick action, Ava received timely treatment and transportation to Randall Children\u2019s Hospital in Portland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI believe in my heart Ava made it to Randall\u2019s just in time,\u201d Tammy said. \u201cIt was the scariest day of my life. We thought it was just a pinched nerve \u2026 she almost died.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI remember a bunch of people, and then everyone was freaking out,\u201d Ava said of her last conscious moments before being intubated. She remained on a ventilator for four days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The toll on Ava\u2019s body was severe. \u201cI lost so much muscle mass,\u201d she said. \u201cI weighed 90 pounds and then dropped down to 82 pounds. It was crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A follow-up MRI revealed a torn labrum in her hip, a result of weakening from the sepsis, and it threatens Ava\u2019s athletic future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe doctor said she could keep doing physical therapy, but no more high-impact sports,\u201d Tammy said. \u201cThe damage is so great that it is possible Ava may need a hip replacement by age 20.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now 13, Ava continues to adapt to the effects of sepsis. \u201cRight now, I can do most normal activities,\u201d she said, though certain physical activities remain off limits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/news\/recognize-sepsis-symptoms\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Read more about sepsis<\/a> and the warning signs to recognize.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<aside>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/pt-Ava-smiling-in-gym-CO-600x480.jpg\" class=\"attachment-cta size-cta wp-post-image\" alt=\"Sweet home girl Ava smiles as she sits in her school&#039;s gymnasium.\" \/><\/figure>\t\t<\/aside>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The clock was ticking when Ava Murry arrived at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center with severe leg pain. Thanks to a nurse\u2019s quick action and a cutting-edge protocol, Ava can tell the story about the day her life was saved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":56558,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","_shs_workflow_notes":"","_shs_exclude_from_navigation":false,"_shs_promote_article_on_blogs":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"news-topics":[285],"news-types":[270],"services":[235],"specialty":[31],"class_list":["post-56555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","news-topics-patient-story","news-types-feature-article","services-emergency-care","specialty-emergency-medicine"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56555"},{"taxonomy":"news-topics","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-topics?post=56555"},{"taxonomy":"news-types","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-types?post=56555"},{"taxonomy":"services","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/services?post=56555"},{"taxonomy":"specialty","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/specialty?post=56555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}