Alice Pons
May 2023
Alice
Pons
,
RN
Cancer Immunology/GI Clinical Research
The Johns Hopkins Hospital
Baltimore
,
MD
United States
She freely gave hugs to all of us, she cried with us in our sadness, and she became a trusted friend and mentor…someone we will never forget.
| As family members and dear friends of "S", would like to nominate Alice Pons for a DAISY Award for exemplary nursing at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Our story spans from 2019 to 2023. "S" was diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma in 2019 and became a part of an experimental program and Alice Pons was his oncology nurse as part of that team. "S" recently passed away and through the past nearly four and a half years, Alice has been a wealth of support, information, and compassion and we will never forget her kindness to "S" and to each of us. She is extraordinarily generous and her warmth has been both support and solace. Although there are countless stories we could share, here is a smattering of some of the things she has done to support "S" and all of us. • She was with "S" monthly, listening to his stories and laughing with him through the times of COVID as he received his monthly infusion without family support by his side. • She was easily available to him by phone when he had questions about his therapies or questioned any possible side effects. • She was with him as he rang the bell after his successful completion of his immunotherapy. • She visited "S" regularly when his cancer metastasized to his brain and he was hospitalized in the ICU at Johns Hopkins. • She sat with us toward the end of surgery when he was having a craniotomy so that if bad news were delivered, she could bring us comfort. • She sat with "S" through a difficult MRI during which he was not himself because of a medicinal interaction, talking him down during the MRI and during his interactions with his doctors. She showed him photos and videos of newborn horses and calmed him as his mind was spinning to a very negative place and he was acting toward doctors and staff in a way that was not typical for him. • She came to sit with "S" and his family during a couple of his all-brain radiation appointments. • She invited us to her farm to see new foal and their mothers, again, to bring us comfort and fun during a very trying time and knowing that "S" reacted so calmly toward the photos during the prior MRI. • She freely gave her time when talking to family members about options facing them. • She dispensed information to family about what to expect during end-of-life. • She freely gave hugs to all of us. • She cried with us in our sadness. • She became a trusted friend and mentor…someone we will never forget. Although this is an award nomination for Alice, and it could be a stand-alone nomination for her, as her compassion and knowledge far surpassed any hopes we would have wanted from a healthcare professional, we also want to acknowledge Dr. Sharfman, with whom Alice works side-by-side. "S" deeply trusted these two medical professionals. He valued their medical expertise and opinions and, in the end, valued their counsel. "S" was a doctor with 40 years of experience before he retired just over a year before his death. The care he received from Alice Pons and from Dr. Sharfman is the kind of care we believe he tried to extend to his patients in his practice of medicine. We will forever be grateful to Alice for her care of "S". We nominate her with the greatest of enthusiasm to receive the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses. |