Jerry E. Miller
July 2025
Jerry E.
Miller
,
RN
Emergency Department
Dimmit Regional Hospital
Carrizo Springs
,
TX
United States
Jerry took it upon himself to carefully and respectfully clean the patient from head to toe
I am a night shift ER NP solo provider in a critical access hospital. I came in that evening to work, and the previous shift had a patient who had passed away. The expired patient was in the room with grieving family members, and the staff was allowing them time to say goodbye. There was a delay in the pickup of the individual, and so to return our crash room to be functional, we moved the person to a floor bed to await the funeral home pickup. Our hospital is small, so this is pretty standard, especially if there’s going to be a delay in pick up. When the decision was made to move the patient and return the room back so that we could use it in the ED, the primary nurse, Jerry Miller, went into the room with the patient’s body since this patient was not going to go to autopsy. We typically remove the tubes, cover the body, and then place it in the other room. However, Jerry took it upon himself to carefully and respectfully clean the patient from head to toe in a manner that I believe was above and beyond before moving the patient, so the family could continue with their visitation. When I asked him why he did all the things that he did, he just said that it was the right thing to do, and that was how he was trained. He didn’t want the family members to sit and grieve with their loved ones without knowing he had cared for them always, even in their passing. He said it’s what nurses do. The family didn’t know how much time and care he took with their loved one, but I saw him, and I feel like he should be recognized for that.