PsyCare Spotlight: Lisa M. Gomez, LPN

Lisa M. Gomez, LPN
Medical Care Coordinator, Liberty PsyCare

How did you get your start with PsyCare?

I started at Psycare 9 years ago. My daughter is a psychotherapist at PsyCare and she encouraged me to interview for the job. I was working as a department head in a long term care facility at the time, and didn’t really want make a change. However, the interview went well and I have never looked back. I truly love my job!

Tell us about the challenge of working from home.

Working through the pandemic has been quite a challenge. We’ve all had to quickly adjust to a new way of doing things. Since I am the office nurse, I still came into the office every day. It was very quiet here for months. While providers and therapists adjusted to telehealth appointments and working from home, I worked behind the scenes contacting clients and helping them learn how to do a telehealth visit. During these phone calls I was able to get a good read on how our clients were coping with Covid-19. I answered their questions about the virus and provided them with good resources for accurate information. I was encouraged that most everyone I spoke with over these past few months was using common sense, making good decisions, and following the governor’s guidelines to stay safe and healthy. 

How has life changed for you (personally and/or professionally) since the Covid-19 threat?

Since we are entering a new phase of the pandemic and slowly having staff return to the office, things continue to change daily. Every day I screen all staff for flu-like symptoms and take their temperature. We do everything we can to provide a safe environment for our staff and clients, with the most up to date information available. We have made many changes to our office as well:  No more clients in the waiting room; wearing face masks in the halls and whenever we are within six feet of others; sanitizing surfaces and frequent hand washing are just a few examples.

At home it’s just me and my husband. He also has an essential job so he’s been going out to work  every day as well. We both go to work then go home and stay home until it’s time to go back to work. We are both grateful to be working our regular hours throughout all of this uncertainty.

What message or suggestion do you want to give people during this stressful time?

My advice to others is: wear a mask, physical distance, and resource good accurate information to stay up to date on Covid-19. The governor made a suggestion a while back to “Strive for five.” He wanted us to reach out to 5 other people to check on them. I have 5 sisters that I group text with every day. We all check in with each other and this has been a good source of support for me, and I think for them as well. Most importantly, be kind. Everyone is going through a lot right now. It’s ok to ask for help. We all need a little help sometimes. 

Click here to contact the Liberty Clinic for mental health services.