erin serdy, BSN, RN, CHPN

Nurse Erin was sitting with a patient who was actively dying. The patient was all alone and had expressed some spiritual distress and fear. While the patient had been saying for a long time that she was "ready", on this day she told Nurse Erin "I am not ready". She squeezed Nurse Erin's hand and told her "Don't leave me!" Nurse Erin called me, the chaplain, and asked that I say a prayer with the patient over the phone to help relieve some of the spiritual distress.
This is not the first time that Nurse Erin has called me in situations such as this. When Nurse Erin needs a prayer NOW, I can always count on her to call me. She stayed with this patient and got crisis care started. She assured the patient, telling her, "Don't worry my friends will be taking turns sitting with you so you will not be alone". She arranged the room so that patient's comfy visitor's chair was next to the bed. Nurse Erin gave specific instructions to the crisis care nurse to "sit in that chair" because it was important to the patient that guests be comfortable.
Thanks to all that Nurse Erin did for this patient, I do believe this patient passed later that night in peace. This is just one story of how Nurse Erin treats all her patients.