April 2021
Dilek
Reisoglu
,
BSN, RN
Medical ICU
Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
Dilek's kindness, compassion, and understanding lifted the stress
Recently, we had a patient in the medical intensive care unit who was sick with COVID pneumonia resulting in multisystem organ failure. The patient was now dying, and the patient's son was at her side. They were of the Muslim faith, and it was very important to the patient's son that his loved one has the traditional washing and prayers at the time of death. Dilek was their nurse for when it became evident the patient's time was limited. The patient's son confided in Dilek his torment over not having someone to do the traditional washing and prayers. Dilek had a long discussion with him and helped bear witness to the extraordinary life the patient had led. Her outreach also relieved his anxiety. Dilek provided the son with the name and number of a Muslim funeral home. Dilek's kindness, compassion, and understanding lifted the stress of a proper burial and ritual washing off of this family's shoulders, and they spent their last minutes together in peace.