A patient was received on 1 West who stated that three of her children (a 12 year old son with Aspergers, a 4 year old, and a 2 year old) were staying with her elderly father and had no food in the house. The patient was very upset about this. This was during evening hours and our staff was unable to locate any resources for the family but were very concerned that her children did not have any food. Ida was called.

Ida called Spiritual Care and was able to get about a week's worth of food for the family. She offered to deliver it to the patient's family that night. She also took it upon herself to buy them milk and juice. The home was not in the safest of locations, but that night around 10 p.m. Ida and her husband delivered the food to the family.

I can't tell you how touched I was by Ida taking this upon herself. She did not have to do any of this but could not stand the idea of those three children going hungry. Her compassion and caring for this family truly represents what St. Joseph Medical Center stands for. When I spoke with her about it, she did not seem to think that she had done anything extraordinary. The staff of 1 West does.