On a Saturday afternoon, the Transitional Care Unit (TCU) received an emotional phone call from a father requesting that his ventilator dependent, medically complex child be brought to her mother's bedside who was in home hospice. Transportation out of the facility is typically not available to the residents unless it is for a scheduled appointment with a medical provider. Stacie Boston, Clinical Coordinator, received this phone call and knew that we had to get this child to her mother. Stacie was able to arrange transport from the facility, about 30 miles, with a private transportation company for the child, herself, and a respiratory therapist. As this is not a usual occurrence, this took extraordinary coordination to arrange.

On the following Tuesday, the TCU received a phone call from the mother's hospice nurse asking if the child could be brought to visit again. The hospice nurse stressed that the mother's health was failing and that this would be her last opportunity to see her child. Transportation was again arranged, and Aaliyha Jenkins-Minnicks volunteered to accompany the child on this visit. During the visit, both sets of grandparents expressed their gratitude to Stacie and Aaliyha for making this possible.

After the visit, the mother’s hospice nurse called the TCU, praising both Stacie and Aaliyha and their commitment to this family. She said that in all her years of hospice, she had never seen an undertaking this immense to get someone to a hospice patient's bedside.