The waiting room is the single most hated place for an emergency department patient to have to stay. 

As a tech in the emergency department, it can be challenging when patients wait and wait, but due to high patient volumes, there’s nothing we can do to get them back faster. 

Glenda is our triage nurse and, in my mind, is the angel of the waiting room. If you are triaged by Glenda, even if you have to wait, you are seen. I have seen her compassionately create a loving relationship with countless patients in the triage box and minister to their needs, whatever they are, while they sit in the waiting room. 

She can often be seen making rounds, getting a more comfortable spot for a patient to sit and wait, ensuring people are updated on what’s going on, and taking extra steps to ensure people feel heard and connected with. One day, I was helping Glenda, and she shared with me that when a patient comes in, they want to be seen, but mainly, they just want to be known and heard. I have watched her again and again, know and hear our patients in the waiting room. She is often the difference between a patient feeling abandoned until a bed is ready, and a patient feeling like the waiting room is a place where they are cared for and seen. 

It takes a phenomenal nurse to make the least comfortable place in the hospital feel like the place a patient has gotten the best care of their visit, but yet Glenda does it tirelessly.