January 2016
Karina
Cusworth
,
RN
Oncology
Los Robles Hospital
Thousand Oaks
,
CA
United States

 

 

 

When the prognosis of your loved one is not good,it is hard to hold it all together, but Karina Cusworth helps you to do that. Karina had the ability of very patiently explaining my sister's condition and her detailed explanation and articulate way of speaking was incredibly useful when we needed to face a decision regarding my sister's care. She sat with our family when filling out the DNR forms and walked through each question with a great detail. I was so impressed by the knowledge and her ability to phrase things in a non-alarming and calm way. She would allow us to tap on her experiences and knowledge with the utmost patience. She helped us to make a decision in a timely fashion allow us to bring my sister home before she was too weak for transport. I truly believe that without her insight we would not have been able to bring our sister home which was extremely important to her and our family. Karina's strongest asset is her ability to communicate very difficult information in a calm and compassionate way. Karina spent time with many of our family members as we struggled with what to expect from the coming days. Her patience with our questions, sometimes asked multiple times by multiple people was very kind. She had a wonderful way of telling you information in a way that was easy to understand and in a comforting way-even though it was not good news. I never felt as if she had more important things to do, or that I was keeping her from her duties, though I am sure she had many other things she needed to be doing. She always gave the family a sense that she cared and this was very heartwarming. Karina took excellent care of my sister and her entire family. After the decision was made to go to hospice, her suggestions for keepsakes were extremely thoughtful and her patience and kindness made a huge difference for all of us. Karina is also known for working with doctors and helping them to understand the family side of what they perceive is going on and prepared the doctor to answer our questions. From getting nausea medicine or medicine for constipation, she worked the unpleasant parts of a problem to do her best to make it better. Her expertise and knowledge were e extremely helpful. She is wonderful.