Celebrating Our People – Meet Jessica

Continuing Care Hospital nursing supervisor Jessica Feltner says she has a unique experience with the long-term acute care patients she sees.

“We take care of lots of patients with different needs,” Jessica says. “I like getting to know our patients and their families because our patients spend more time here, but it’s still different every day. I get to see their progress, from coming off the ventilator, to going through rehab and going home.”

Jessica says she sees her calling in action when she sees a patient come back to show off their progress after being in acute care for a long time.

“It’s rewarding we get to see all of that,” Jessica says.

Jessica says the last two years were difficult for her and her patients, who were unable to see family and friends because of visitor restrictions due to the pandemic.

“I brought my iPad from home so patients could FaceTime with their families,” Jessica says. “I treat patients the way I would want to be treated, and seeing [my patients’] faces light up when they saw their family on FaceTime really helped them. All they could see was us, so showing kindness and taking an extra step to help was important.”

The last two years were also hard for Jessica and her husband because she had just given birth to her son, Wyatt, when the pandemic began. Her second child, Korban, was born earlier this year.

“Every day, my husband put out bottles of Lysol and a special hamper for my scrubs,” Jessica says. “We didn’t go anywhere or take the kids out. Wyatt just went to Wal-Mart for the first time recently.”

Jessica became a nurse in 2013 and started her career near her hometown of Vicco, but moved to Lexington to join the team at Continuing Care Hospital. However, Jessica initially didn’t plan on becoming a nurse.

“I wanted to be a lawyer,” Jessica says. “But my papaw got cancer and I helped care for him. One of the last things he said to me was ‘you would make such a great nurse’ and it was his words that stuck in my head.”

Jessica says she and her family enjoy fishing and spending time together outdoors. Jessica plans to take the kids fishing a lot this summer with her dad and spending time at the lake this summer. She also enjoys traveling, watching movies and TV shows in her free time.