So what do you say to capture what Dorie Bond has meant to our family over the last two and a half-plus years? My husband was very resistant to having visiting nurses in the first place. Once he met Dorie though, that all changed.

Dorie came to our house twice a week during this time, in fact sometimes three times a week. She took blood and gave infusions. But that was her job. She went above and beyond to make him feel important, and even on his bad days, she could make him smile. She had a special way of connecting with him, that some might say may not be totally conventional, but was exactly what he needed. Even if he was mad as could be at her for suggesting that he had to go to the hospital (and believe me he let her know that) he still respected her opinion. She sat and talked to him to make him understand what was going on and what was the best way to deal with it.

But, it wasn’t just my husband, it was me too. She always had time to talk to me, and we could try to strategize things that might work. But more than that, she became a confident and a friend whom I could contact when things weren’t going so well, or if I needed help with a malfunctioning IV machine. She could walk me through hooking up an IV so I could take my husband on vacation and still give him the fluids he so desperately needed, but I also knew that if I had problems she was only a text or phone call away. She became a friend I could confide in when things were getting really bad with my husband’s health.

Dorie's caring and compassionate nature goes above and beyond anything we could have expected. In fact, my husband didn’t want to go to Hospice because he knew that meant Dorie could no longer come. But Dorie told him she would still stop by. Dorie is the type of nurse that all nurses should strive to be. Even if she was having a bad day, you would never know it.

My eternal thanks to Dorie for all she did for my family. She is the best!