September 2020
Dana
Elliott
,
RN
Med/Surg
Peninsula Regional Medical Center
Salisbury
,
MD
United States
Dana Elliott was pulled to 3E when we were short-staffed. It was a very busy day and she was working with a challenging group of patients that were outside of her area of expertise. Included in that group was a patient who had decided the day prior that she no longer wanted treatment and just wanted to be comfortable for the short time she had left. The patient had a recurrence of an aggressive cancer and she declined quickly. The family was overwhelmed, to say the least. Dana ensured the patient was comfortable and offered support to the family throughout the morning. The husband was here alone when the patient passed away peacefully that afternoon. Dana stayed at the patient's bedside to offer support and was a literal shoulder for him to cry on.
As Dana was leaving from her shift that afternoon, she encountered a distraught young lady outside of the elevators, who was crying and said she needed to find a patient room, where her mom had just died. As she escorted the daughter to the unit, Dana explained that she was the nurse who had cared for her mom that day and assured her that she was comfortable and wasn't alone when she passed. The daughter had spent the day at her parent's home, trying to care for the animals, clean up, and do laundry to take some stress off of her dad, before coming to visit. She was overcome with exhaustion and sat down for a few minutes and unknowingly fell asleep at her parent's home. She awoke to multiple missed calls and text messages, only to find out that her mom had died while she was resting.
What I find so touching is that when Dana left her shift, she forgot some of her belongings and had to return to 3E to get them. It was after dropping them off on 5L and finally heading out that she encountered the daughter outside the elevator. If there were ever a moment for being in the right place at the right time, this was it! Later that evening, Dana took the time to write me an email telling me about how she found the daughter and how she felt that she had been put in several places that day for a reason. I have to agree and want to say thank you to Dana for being here that day.
As Dana was leaving from her shift that afternoon, she encountered a distraught young lady outside of the elevators, who was crying and said she needed to find a patient room, where her mom had just died. As she escorted the daughter to the unit, Dana explained that she was the nurse who had cared for her mom that day and assured her that she was comfortable and wasn't alone when she passed. The daughter had spent the day at her parent's home, trying to care for the animals, clean up, and do laundry to take some stress off of her dad, before coming to visit. She was overcome with exhaustion and sat down for a few minutes and unknowingly fell asleep at her parent's home. She awoke to multiple missed calls and text messages, only to find out that her mom had died while she was resting.
What I find so touching is that when Dana left her shift, she forgot some of her belongings and had to return to 3E to get them. It was after dropping them off on 5L and finally heading out that she encountered the daughter outside the elevator. If there were ever a moment for being in the right place at the right time, this was it! Later that evening, Dana took the time to write me an email telling me about how she found the daughter and how she felt that she had been put in several places that day for a reason. I have to agree and want to say thank you to Dana for being here that day.