Jennifer A Cullen
June 2022
Jennifer A
Cullen
,
RN
Neurology
Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center & Children's Hospital
Spokane
,
WA
United States

 

 

 

Nurse Jennifer was so compassionate as she helped my husband and me understand the passing process and as she took care of my dad and made sure he was comfortable.
My dad suffered a major stroke and was airlifted to Providence Sacred Heart for treatment. My dad was non-verbal and paralyzed on the left side and was later put on Comfort Care. Nurse Jennifer was his final night nurse 5 days later, and helped my dad peacefully pass away. 
Nurse Jennifer had her hands full that night. She was training a nurse and taking care of my dad that night. Nurse Jennifer is also a Hospice nurse and we talked about how I watched my biological father pass away from lung cancer and how I watched him gasp for every breath before passing and I did not want my stepdad to go through that same experience. When my dad's breathing became labored and the medication to help him breathe was no longer doing its job, she started the morphine. Nurse Jennifer helped me to understand what the process was going to look like as my dad passed away. After she started the morphine, I immediately called my husband and despite having had the day shift of sitting with my dad, he joined me at my dad's bedside. Those chairs in my dad's room were far from comfortable, but I gave my husband the chair that pulls out since he did not get to go back to the hotel to sleep that night. Nurse Jennifer made multiple attempts to find us a cot to try to make us more comfortable but was unsuccessful. I ended up taking the pillows and blankets that were provided for me a few nights earlier and attempted to sleep on the floor. Nurse Jennifer came in to check on my dad, and she was upset that I was sleeping on the floor, and she made sure that someone found a cot for us, and within an hour we had a cot. Nurse Jennifer was so compassionate as she helped my husband and me understand the passing process and as she took care of my dad and made sure he was comfortable. My dad was blessed to have Nurse Jennifer (and her Hospice experience) as his final nurse to help him pass away with dignity and I am so grateful that my dad was able to pass peacefully, not gasping for his last breaths. I will forever be grateful to Nurse Jennifer for making that happen for my dad.