A life-altering diagnosis was received by a new grad nurse with young children. Her treatment plan was aggressive, requiring multiple physician and treatment appointments each week, a radical surgical intervention, and intense physical therapy between immunotherapy infusions over multiple months. The burden of multiple therapies and their side effects required an extended absence from work and a profound reduction in her normal activities. She used a significant number of PTO hours until her short-term disability policy went into effect, after which she used a regular number of PTO hours to defray the costs of her employee benefits each pay period while on short-term disability. Left to her own devices, she would have exhausted her PTO long before she could work to accrue more, but she was never alone in her struggles and never wanted for support from her team. Her teammates donated dozens and dozens of PTO hours to her, and the donations continued as her treatments lingered and her PTO balance waned. These donations were generous and noble, yet not unprecedented because this team had done the same thing for another team member who had complications resulting in premature childbirth. The differentiating factor in this case is that this team, this work family, began delivering daily meals to the new grad and her children, and this meal train has been in operation for multiple months, including the holiday season. She is a single mother, yet she rarely attends appointments alone because her teammates rotate, accompanying her when they’re not working. Nurses spend their working lives caring for others, so I am accustomed to witnessing selfless acts of kindness among them. Still, I have never before seen such a prolonged outpouring of deeply personal support that so amply exemplifies unconditional love. This is an example I will strive to follow and a memory I will treasure.

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These nurses deserve all the recognition. They are an asset to this hospital! Kind, caring, compassionate. I was well taken care of because of them.