I was a patient for a few days in July and have been in and out of the hospital my whole life. I have come across so many healthcare professionals throughout my lifetime, but this stay was truly a different experience. Although you have some great staff members, this one nurse truly stood out to me the most. I call her my angel of the night. I just felt you should know what an amazing person you have working on your unit.

Her kindness, empathy, and professionalism have made a profound impact on my life, and I will never forget her as long as I shall live. Nursing is sometimes a profession where hard work and dedication are sometimes undervalued and overlooked. The profession can be filled with exhausting, emotional, and sometimes grief-stricken tasks that nurses take on every shift. This nurse had the ability to separate from all the chaos and treat every patient as if they were the only patient in the hospital. As I have stated above, I have been in and out of the hospital multiple times throughout my lifetime, and very rarely did I ever have to stay by myself during my admissions. I have always had a family member or my partner stay with me throughout my stay. This stay was even more difficult for me because my son was also admitted to Children’s Hospital at the same time, and my partner needed to get back to him. This meant that I was going to be staying alone at Good Sam.

Staying in the hospital alone brings a new meaning to the feeling of stress, anxiety, and fear of not having the love and support from my partner or family next to me. This nurse recognized this heightened anxiety and took the time to sit with my partner and me to help ease some of the discomfort we both were feeling. She noticed that my partner had not eaten for hours and stated to us that she was going to gather some things and would return to my room shortly. When she returned, she had a meal that she went to the cafeteria and purchased so my partner would not have to return to Children’s Hospital hungry. She paid for this meal out of her own pocket and stated that she was familiar with staying at Children’s Hospital and how stressful it can be, and there was no reason to be hungry while having to care for a sick child in the hospital. 

This act of kindness speaks volumes, but it wasn’t until my partner needed to head back to our sone that her exceptional love for people really came out. I found myself having one of the worst panic attacks that I have ever experienced in my life and she stopped everything that she was doing (which was a lot because I had been watching her run back and forth through the halls, trying to help everyone in need form my doorway) just to sit with me in my room at my level and hold my hand and help me to find ways to stop this panic attack. I told her that my partner and I would always sing together to calm myself down. She looks right at me and states, “Well, what is your favorite song that you two would sing together? I am willing to give it a try but can’t promise that I am a great singer.” She sat right there with me and sang “True Colors” from the Troll movie, with an amazing voice, might I add. The next thing I knew, my panic attack was gone, and I knew that I was safe in her care.

To me, this is above and beyond any kind of job responsibility required by a nurse, and she only did it out of pure love and willingness to comfort the people she takes care of. She sang this song with me as if I was her only patient; she set aside the million things she had on her plate that night, and she truly made me feel like I mattered. I have seen on commercials, billboards, and t-shirts the TriHealth motto is “We hear you, we see you, let us heal you,” and I have never felt more seen or heard, and she for sure helped me heal in such a difficult time in my life. I just want to make sure you all know that you truly have a very special person caring for your patients on this unit, and I hope that she gets the recognition she deserves.