Cecilia Mendoza Martinez, RN

As a patient of the VAMC, I experienced wonderful care from the nurses on the 5th floor and in the ICU. Personally, I would like to thank all of them for being patient advocates.

More importantly, I was able to witness one specific nurse on the 5th floor who was assigned to care for my roommate who had dementia. CeCe demonstrated the qualities of patient advocacy with compassion.

My roommate had several episodes when he would become confused and wanted to go home, or had other periods where he was trying to do inappropriate behaviors such as trying to find his wife, who he thought was outside in the car waiting for him, or making sure the “bill for lunch” was paid. Sometimes his motion alarm would go off repeatedly as he tried to find his wife or look for his shoes.

It would have been easy for CeCe to tell him he was in the hospital or that he had to stay in bed. These approaches only caused my roommate to become more agitated. Instead, CeCe would sit down with him so she could be at eye level. She would hold his hand and then patiently get my roommate to explain what was bothering him.

Realizing he was concerned about his wife who had just been visiting, CeCe called my roommate’s family and had them reassure him that his wife was safe at home. CeCe not only made this phone call but stayed with my roommate while he spoke to his daughter. Afterward, CeCe was able to voice the same reassurances that the daughter had made.

When we told CeCe she was a very compassionate nurse to my roommate, her reply was, “My heart breaks for him."