Christine was nominated for supporting a family as they said goodbye to their son. Throughout this patient’s 10-day hospitalization, Christine McCown, worked hard to “normalize” the hospital experience by encouraging him to get out of bed to take a short walk or to ride in the red wagon to see the PICU’s Christmas tree. Sometimes it was encouraging him to play interactive games on the Wii PlayStation or iPad or to watch a favorite TV show with her. Special care was given by Christine to make sure this little boy was well prepared for any medical procedure, no matter how minor, to keep his anxiety level down during the night shifts she worked. She also made sure that Child Life was a part of this little boy’s hospital experience during the daytime hours.
Trust with the medical/nursing team and Christine grew for this the little boy and his family to the extent that when the PICU Intensivist had to tell the family that there wasn’t anything else they could do – the family agreed to withdrawing care and let his disease take its natural course. But there was one special request that they made; they wanted Christine to be at the bedside to support them as they said good-bye to their son.
Christine could have said “no”. Her 12 hour night shift was over and she faced a very long commute home to Payson before she could get some sleep. But Christine said “yes”, feeling strongly that her little patient and his family needed her more than she needed sleep.
Christine stayed with the patient family until their son passed away, tag-teaming her psycho-social support and comfort care measures for the patient and his family with the day-shift RN who had officially taken charge of the patient. The extraordinary compassionate care given by Christine included helping the parents feel comfortable to actively care for their son in his last hours and helping extended family members say their goodbyes.