John Thibodeaux demonstrated compassion at a level that neither I, nor my entire family, have ever experienced while being a patient or visitor in any hospital. After learning of my mother's DNR and living will instructions of not wanting to continue life by way of artificial means, he knew where things were headed. Yet, he watched us struggle with the fact that I, my three sisters, and my father could still communicate with her. He also watched and knew that she was receiving a whole lot of comfort and satisfaction in her slight interactions with us. When we asked him for facts, he gave us facts. When we asked him for the opportunity to spend time and connect with her, he adjusted sedation with the utmost precision -comfort being the priority, and the family being able to spend some last moments with our beloved. He also asked us to inform him when we'd be visiting mother, and how many people would be attempting to spend time with her, so he could make the necessary attempts for the opportunities, which was very difficult for him to do during these constraining virus days.
John inspired confidence at every level of caring for my mother while providing needed well-being for her. My family watched his assertions become facts, each well before the facts surfaced. From balancing her physical comfort, her mental communication with her family, and knowing her understanding of what was happening around her, he calculated each detail against the other with the top priority first, then the second priority second, and so on. Even after losing my mother, no one in our family has even the slightest doubt that anything should have been done differently. He truly inspired confidence.
John showed us how things should, and did, happen in an intensive care unit. There was a time for everything, and when it came time for patient care, comfort, visitation, his additional duties (of which he gave us the impression that there were none, yet, there were many), and passing on our family's focus to his relief, he did it with perfect rhythm.
John had a talent of salesmanship when it came to instilling a desire in us to maintain a germ-free environment. Though we were aware of many recent COVID rules for simply being out in public, he taught us some additional practices inside of the hospital, as well as some above and beyond what we're all being taught through common resources. We benefitted from learning from him some practices that we never would have learned through day to day workplace rules, social gatherings, and government mandates. He gave us a few "oh yea" pieces of knowledge.
John went above and beyond the call of duty. He took good care of my mother. He was very empathetic and altruistic. Your hospital is very lucky to have John as an employee.
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John took care of my wife while there with her extreme, debilitating health problems, especially toward the end. She received amazing, professional, and personal care from Nurse John Thibodeaux that made her more comfortable. His gentleness and considerable attention to both her and our family were truly remarkable and helped us in more ways than we can count. Memorial is fortunate to have such a professional, dedicated employee such as John, and we were fortunate to benefit from the fine treatment we received from him.