Annette had a patient who was admitted for a pulmonary embolus. This particular patient had recently had a TIA and had since been more inactive and less involved in her own personal hygiene over the past few months, resulting in the PE. This also resulted in a terrible body odor for the patient. While we were treating her for the clot in her lung, little was being done to address her self-hygiene. When Annette was assigned this patient, she took it upon herself to address this issue.

Annette entered the patient's room, closed the door behind her, and had a personal discussion with her on the particularly difficult topic of her body odor and how it affected the patient and others around her, including friends and her husband. Annette was able to convince the patient to take a shower and place more attention on her hygiene. Annette reported this to the next nurse, and the next day, the patient also used a shower cap to help remove the smell that had still been lingering around.

I took care of this patient a few days afterwards and the patient told me how she was working on improving herself, washing up more, and walking around more. After a few days on the floor, the patient appeared more determined to respect herself and take care of her health. There was still a slight smell, but from what I have been told, it was a lot less prominent than before.

Annette's special gift of connecting with patients and addressing particularly difficult topics helped not just to heal this patient physically, but mentally and emotionally as well.