Cameron Reider
March 2019
Cameron
Reider
,
BSN, RN
ICU
Mayo Clinic Health System: Franciscan Healthcare - LaCrosse
La Crosse
,
WI
United States
Cameron Reider, RN exemplifies what we call a Caritas nurse at our organization. On behalf of my family, we were so honored that Cam was my dad's nurse for several of the 16 days he was in the hospital. My dad was not a "hospital" or "doctor" kind of guy and prevented them as much as he could. I am also an RN and know that it can be more challenging to care for family members of nurses. From one nurse to another, Cam was superb!
There are 10 Caritas Processes in Jean Watson's Theory of Human Caring, so I picked some of them to explain how Cam naturally and genuinely exhibited Caritas to our family:
#1 Embrace altruistic values and practice loving kindness with self and others.
Cam's tone of speech, nonverbal gestures, and ability to converse about everyday life made my dad and the whole family feel comfortable and like he was one of us.
#4 Develop helping-trusting-caring relationships.
Cam built sincere relationships with our family as he answered 100's of our questions and got down to the finer details for me (since I'm a nurse). He also had thoughtful and complete nursing reports in the morning interdisciplinary rounds.
#8 Create a healing environment for the physical and spiritual self which respects human dignity.
Cam responded well to Dad's desire to have male nurses and passed on this preference to the other staff. My whole family was relieved and grateful when he was "our" nurse for the shift.
#10 Open to mystery and allow miracles to enter.
Cam's professionalism and compassion poured out of his soul during my dad's hospitalization. He told personal stories which my family appreciated especially my dad. Cam had glossy eyes, along with the rest of us, when we learned that Dad was actively dying. It was so perfect that Cam was there for Dad's last living day to guide us through the sacred dying process. We had to wait for my niece to fly back from a basketball tournament in CA, so she could be present during Dad's death. Cam was so gentle and accommodating with our needs and questions. The process of death is such a mystery and hard to witness but having a nurse like Cam for our family was an honor.
There are 10 Caritas Processes in Jean Watson's Theory of Human Caring, so I picked some of them to explain how Cam naturally and genuinely exhibited Caritas to our family:
#1 Embrace altruistic values and practice loving kindness with self and others.
Cam's tone of speech, nonverbal gestures, and ability to converse about everyday life made my dad and the whole family feel comfortable and like he was one of us.
#4 Develop helping-trusting-caring relationships.
Cam built sincere relationships with our family as he answered 100's of our questions and got down to the finer details for me (since I'm a nurse). He also had thoughtful and complete nursing reports in the morning interdisciplinary rounds.
#8 Create a healing environment for the physical and spiritual self which respects human dignity.
Cam responded well to Dad's desire to have male nurses and passed on this preference to the other staff. My whole family was relieved and grateful when he was "our" nurse for the shift.
#10 Open to mystery and allow miracles to enter.
Cam's professionalism and compassion poured out of his soul during my dad's hospitalization. He told personal stories which my family appreciated especially my dad. Cam had glossy eyes, along with the rest of us, when we learned that Dad was actively dying. It was so perfect that Cam was there for Dad's last living day to guide us through the sacred dying process. We had to wait for my niece to fly back from a basketball tournament in CA, so she could be present during Dad's death. Cam was so gentle and accommodating with our needs and questions. The process of death is such a mystery and hard to witness but having a nurse like Cam for our family was an honor.