August 2025
David
Dopierala
,
RN
8C
Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital
Royal Oak
,
MI
United States
We will forever be grateful for our mom having been David's patient and for all that he did for her and us during those days.
Words alone will not adequately express our sincere appreciation for the care, kindness, compassion, quick thinking, determination, dedication, and overall support received from Nurse David. He was assigned to our mom more than once and was very resourceful in trying different methods to help our mom thrive.
I was brought to tears during one conversation as I overheard David speaking so gently, yet effectively and compassionately to her, in an attempt to get her to take her medication. It was at that moment that I recognized how some caregivers go that extra mile to quietly encourage an adult whom others may have given up on. David related how he determined that the only way he was going to be able to get mom to swallow her medication was to quickly and discreetly empty the capsules into ice cream and feed it to her. He was successful, and we felt enormous relief.
Imagine our surprise when she began to show significant signs of improvement after being in his care, eating and drinking a greater amount than in previous days. Our mom was doing better, and David was reporting positive feedback. I won't ever forget answering the phone and hearing his voice say, "Lisa, this is David. I'm in your mom's room, and she asked me to call you!"
I was so taken aback, shocked, and surprised to hear her seemingly back from the brink of death, talking as if she had never been nonverbal or in the catatonic state the staff had previously described. We will forever be grateful for our mom having been David's patient and for all that he did for her and us during those days. We feel extremely confident that he is one of the "special ones" who, when faced with challenging circumstances, figures out a way in which to successfully perform important practices, all while consoling his patient, making them feel safe and comfortable.
We hope that someone reading about our experience will assist us in making sure David receives the recognition he so clearly deserves for his outstanding nursing abilities. The job in and of itself is incredibly demanding, and we realize that there is burnout as well as not enough hours in a shift for all that it entails. We will never ever forget dear David, the nurse, the human being who possesses such a wonderful bedside manner, polite decorum, and an enormous heart.
I was brought to tears during one conversation as I overheard David speaking so gently, yet effectively and compassionately to her, in an attempt to get her to take her medication. It was at that moment that I recognized how some caregivers go that extra mile to quietly encourage an adult whom others may have given up on. David related how he determined that the only way he was going to be able to get mom to swallow her medication was to quickly and discreetly empty the capsules into ice cream and feed it to her. He was successful, and we felt enormous relief.
Imagine our surprise when she began to show significant signs of improvement after being in his care, eating and drinking a greater amount than in previous days. Our mom was doing better, and David was reporting positive feedback. I won't ever forget answering the phone and hearing his voice say, "Lisa, this is David. I'm in your mom's room, and she asked me to call you!"
I was so taken aback, shocked, and surprised to hear her seemingly back from the brink of death, talking as if she had never been nonverbal or in the catatonic state the staff had previously described. We will forever be grateful for our mom having been David's patient and for all that he did for her and us during those days. We feel extremely confident that he is one of the "special ones" who, when faced with challenging circumstances, figures out a way in which to successfully perform important practices, all while consoling his patient, making them feel safe and comfortable.
We hope that someone reading about our experience will assist us in making sure David receives the recognition he so clearly deserves for his outstanding nursing abilities. The job in and of itself is incredibly demanding, and we realize that there is burnout as well as not enough hours in a shift for all that it entails. We will never ever forget dear David, the nurse, the human being who possesses such a wonderful bedside manner, polite decorum, and an enormous heart.