In our series, Fast Five with the Paradigm Health team, we introduce you to a member of our team to learn more about their role and why they are Hoosiers caring for Hoosiers.
Meredith Briles
Paradigm Health RN Case Manager, CHPN
- Meredith works as one of the most awesome hospice nurses ever with Paradigm Health, as well as an RN Case Manager. (Meredith self-described her role with PH 🙂 )
- She has been with Paradigm Health for two years but has been a hospice nurse for six years. Prior to coming to Paradigm Health, she worked in long-term care facilities and home health. She was a CNA for a year while taking pre-requisites for the nursing program. Meredith changed majors to Visual Communications, Multimedia, which includes videography, photography, web design, educational CD Rom development, and basic marketing principles. She worked for Project Media as a production assistant before becoming a photographer for Herff Jones. She then turned her photography passion into a full-time career and opened Iris Studios in 2007. She photographed families, weddings and sporting events. She continued this passion throughout nursing school and graduated with her Licensed Practical Nurse degree in 2012. She then received her Registered Nurse degree in 2014 when she was immediately drawn to hospice after she lost her mother. She vowed to never watch anyone suffer the way her mother did and is still going strong with that promise to her mom and herself.
- Meredith met Missy Springer while she was working at a care facility. There, she saw someone with a guitar, a bouquet of flowers, and a badge that said hospice, and she was sold. Meredith shares that she now realizes the benefit of the little things that bring so much joy to someone’s life, especially in the end. Delivering music, flowers and a smile is all it takes to turn someone’s day around.
- She is compassionate about bringing joy to those who are suffering, and finally being able to provide interventions that make a difference as well as increase a hospice patient’s quality of life. She says starting a comfort regimen that results in someone being able to simply enjoy a conversation with their loved ones, is one of the biggest rewards. The most difficult part of her job is advocating for the patient’s wishes at the end, especially when families are, understandably, afraid to let go. She finds reward in explaining both the physical and spiritual changes a person goes through during their transition. Meredith explains that families are receptive to this aspect because there aren’t any clear answers or set prognosis. It is not about planning or expectations, it is about every moment they have left together, and, ultimately, meeting those spiritual and emotional needs. The biggest reward she has ever received as a hospice nurse is giving permission for a family’s loved one to transition and accepting that with grace. Helping families accept that their loved one is leaving this world, allowing them to let go with maintaining their dignity and comfort.
- Meredith’s family, in her words, is cray and they keep her very busy. Her hobbies include time with her family, and she still enjoys photography although she no longer captures weddings or other events. She does enjoy taking photos in the fall for families and high school seniors.
