My mom spent 9 days at the South Wing building recovering after surgery for removing part of her lung. While all the nurses and PCTs were amazing we would like to recognize one particular nurse, Alena Sas, for her outstanding care and professionalism. I spent a lot of time in my Mom's room and saw how caring and diligent she was and how well she knows her job, how much respect she was showing to my Mom as well as to other patients, their relatives, and her co-workers.
I can imagine how hard it is to work a 12-hour shift, constantly providing care to patients recovering after a surgery, responding to their calls. Despite that, Alena never showed even the slightest sign of being tired, even at the end of her shift. She was always smiling, cheering my mom, and doing her best to improve my mom's physical condition, going above and beyond to improve her mood. My mom was under strong pain medication and many times half-conscious but she remembers that "there was that nice hard-working nurse who cared so much about me and did so much, not only to make me more comfortable and relieve my suffering but also to lift my spirits."
My mom, who is a very active and independent person, was very concerned about being in such an unpleasant situation after the surgery; frail, disoriented, confused, not being able to care for herself. Alena was able to find the right words to relieve some of my Mom's concerns, to look at the situation from a different angle and not to feel bad about having others take care of her. Alena said; "You are never a burden to us; you have to think about your needs and stop worrying about us. Otherwise, your recovery will last forever." She was saying these words to my mom and it really affected her spirit in a positive way.
Alena was always nice and polite and yet could be firm to make my mom do what she had to do such as walk. Alena is a real professional and cares about her patients a lot! She is passionate about her job, not because it provides for her, but because she wants to help people. I witnessed how her face lit up when my mom started improving! It was her small victory too, not only ours. She was also very attentive to me, offering to bring me coffee, asking how I was doing. She probably saw how frustrated and tired I was and wanted to help regardless of how many, much more important tasks were on her agenda. Both my mom and I will be grateful to Alena forever!