Arneta Montgomery’s Story
How she encourages her team to understand varied cultures when delivering patient care.
Arneta Montgomery, as a new RN, sought to be on top of her game when she moved to Cleveland in 1994 to work at UH Cleveland Medical Center.
“My goal was to work at an academic medical center that provided advanced, leading-edge care and offered opportunities for growth and development,” she recalls. “At that time, competition was fierce, due to an ever-increasing pool of nurses, exceeding the limited availability of positions. There were too many nurses looking for jobs, if you can imagine that.”
Arneta says she always wanted to be a nurse. “To this day, my family recounts stories of the nurturer: I was a little person placing a cool cloth on the forehead of an ailing relative. And a stethoscope, thermometer and blood pressure cuff were the most treasured items in my toy box. Of course, I always thought they were just teasing.
“I was always surrounded by those who were humble, but driven, with a strong belief in being the best you can be, and that the learning process is never ending” she says. “The word ‘can’t’ was not an option and was never accepted in our vocabulary.”
Arneta’s determination led her to enroll in and ultimately earn her nursing credentials from St. Elizabeth’s School of Nursing, reputedly only graduating a third of each class from its rigorous curriculum and principled standards. She went on to earn her BSN from Indiana Wesleyan University.
At UH, she started as a staff nurse on Lakeside 60 in Infectious Disease Management and, within a short period, was promoted to Advanced Clinical Nurse. In 2002 she moved into the leadership track as an Assistant Nurse Manager, and currently is the Nurse Manager for Lakeside 50, a Medical-Surgical, Telemetry, and Observation unit, overseeing the care of patients with a broad range of diagnoses.
Arneta manages a diverse staff and appreciates the various perspectives they bring to the patient care environment. Likewise, she must recognize and seek to understand varied cultural responses and customs, as families gather around the bedside of their critically ill loved ones. She encourages the clinical team to incorporate these differences into each individualized patient plan of care.
Relationships between patients and providers can also differ among ethnicities. “For African Americans, trust is huge,” she says. She recalls, some years ago, when multiple clinicians – none of them black – assembled around an older black gentleman, outlining a diagnostic procedure they felt he needed. The patient would agree and then cancel when it was time to go. After a few episodes of this scenario, the team sought more assistance. Arneta and a colleague waited, then spoke with him. Following a brief conversation and arranging for him to speak with his out-of-town wife for her thoughts, the patient agreed to the procedure. “Patients appreciate seeing those representative of who they are,” Arneta says. “We also changed the approach from large groups that could be overwhelming, and perhaps intimidating, to merely two individuals, dedicating the necessary time for listening. This allowed the patient the space he needed to process the information about his condition.”
Arneta says UH is becoming more culturally diverse and inclusive, always placing patients at the center of their care. She cites the recent opening of the Rainbow Center for Women & Children as a great example of UH’s sensitivity to the needs of the community.
Finally, Arneta acknowledges that we all play a key role as we continue along the path of inclusion, recognizing that it is a journey we travel together. “We have to open our minds, work hard, speak up and be proud.”