After admit, I was privileged to be blessed with Andrew as my nurse. What an exceptional nurse! He is so efficient, kind, and personable. With him, suffering was not an option. As he recognized the pain and suffering that I was having early on and the uncontrollable bowels and bleeding, he did everything he could to keep me comfortable. Many times he was right there with me in the bathroom assisting with the IV medications as I was unable to leave the toilet. Who does that? Only dedicated selfless humanitarians. He was always concerned about me, saying, "take your time, and don't fall". He even said, "if there is a mess, I can clean it up, that is my job and I love it!" He always made me feel like I was his only patient. I'm sure his other patients felt the same way. He is like the energizer bunny and goes the extra mile and gets things done. There is no lag time when an order was written by the doctor, it was immediately taken care of. It was as if he knew what was going to be done before it was and anticipated every direction. The doctor asked for immunization records late one afternoon, my husband raced home to get them, we had about 15 minutes. As quickly as they were back to the hospital, he had them to the doctor so she could continue the care that night and not pass it to the next doctor in her rotation. His efficiency streamlined my care. The consistency and continuity of care with Andrew were fantastic.
One early morning, still on night shift, after we were able to manage with pain pills, my pain had spiked from a three to a ten in a few minutes. Diarrhea and bleeding had flared again. I had been given a pain pill, but it had not taken effect yet. I guess he was coming on shift and heard my distress and moaning. He was immediately there again in the restroom, rubbing my shoulder and back and comforting me through the suffering, reassuring me that I would be okay and the pain would pass. He stayed until I could get back in bed. Another time, IV Therapy came and put in a midline in, hoping that would help with blood draws as well as better IV access. It wasn't quite as successful as we had hoped, and later when it started to infiltrate, yes, it was Andrew who immediately recognized the infiltration and was able to stop the med flow until another line could be obtained. Thus, saving me an uncomfortable arm. As I said, he has wonderful knowledge, intuition, caring skills, and efficiency. One person can make a difference bringing light into darkness. With this hospital stay, that person was him.
My 92-year-old mother was so concerned she had my sister bring her to the hospital so she could visit. He made all my adult children and family feel comfortable. Instead of asking "can I get you something?" he would ask, "what can I get you? A pop or juice?" And then tell what was available. With my husband, he could feel the stress and didn't quit until my husband agreed to ice water. After that, it was every time ice water and anything else he could continue to hydrate him with. He not only cared for me but for my entire family. He always remembered names. My mom returned two days later with an aunt and he said, "Oh D, it is good to see you again." His compassion and outreach to comfort mom brought me to tears. He is a natural leader, teacher, and mentor. I observed his positive nature with other team members, giving high fives, please, compliments and thank you's. He makes everyone feel important. He has a team spirit and an inclusive attitude.
I had my 64th birthday while in the hospital. Here he came. He had a donut with toothpicks representing candles and gathered other staff to sing happy birthday to me. The donut was cut into small sections and passed around to be shared. It was great! Warmed my heart. I observed that he likes things done right. As an example, the scanner in the room to check the armband and scan medications worked intermittently and not very well. He did not complain about it, but I could see that it was a time waster as he would need to type in medications and information unnecessarily. He reported it with what appeared some unsatisfactory results as I am not sure that it was ever fixed before I left. It made me laugh as I grew up in a home owned business and there is a right way to do things. He is very competent. It instilled in me that he does his best in all he does which also instilled trust in me for him caring for me. Knowing he does things right and pays attention to the details of the small and large issues boosts confidence to patients. As I have witnessed, suffering is not acceptable to him. He has an amazing capacity to see what is needed and responds effectively and efficiently. With his abilities and personal qualities, his work ethic, he is an asset in any arena and position he may be placed in at PMC. He is a huge asset to our community. He has a true love of life and humanity. Our world needs more people like Andrew.