Katie Brien
August 2023
Katie
Brien
,
RN
ICU
Concord Hospital
Concord
,
NH
United States
Katie is an efficient, capable, and knowledgeable nurse. But those aren't her most outstanding qualities. Katie knew what we needed...how much and how little...and became part of our family.
On Monday, the worst thing that could happen to our family happened. My dad, T, went into cardiac arrest while out exercising alone. He was resuscitated and brought into the ER and, eventually, the ICU.
For the first few days, we were hoping beyond hope that he would wake up. We had multiple great nurses and doctors advising us and reporting on test results. After a few days, Katie Brien became our nurse. By this time, we knew things weren't good. But, it was still so hard to imagine that at 74, and extremely healthy, my dad was in a position where he would never be able to live a normal life. The shock and pain compounded. He was our rock and our superhero. We had yet to consider his mortality given the shape he was in. Yet here we were, faced with such awful, painful hell. Katie was exactly what we needed at that time.
We needed honest answers, delivered with compassion. It is trite, but I'll say it anyway. Katie went above and beyond. This is from my mom: "Katie is an efficient, capable, and knowledgeable nurse. But those aren't her most outstanding qualities. Katie knew what we needed...how much and how little...and became part of our family. She quickly learned everyone's names, and there were ten of us! She was very astute, supportive, and intuitive. One late afternoon, as I was squeezed into the hospital bed with my husband, I began to feel panicky. I needed to know the reality of T's condition, and I needed to hear it from a caring but direct person.
Katie came into T's room immediately, pulled up a chair next to the bed, and literally rolled up her sleeves and asked, "How can I help? What do you need?" She held my hand and talked to me. I believe I would not have been able to navigate through this experience without the support of this remarkable person."
When it was time to bring my dad home for hospice, Katie came with him in the ambulance to our house. How did she know we needed her to do that? We didn't even know we needed her to do that. But she did. And it was amazing. Additionally, she brought us all little keepsakes--bits of my dad's EKG in little test tubes. It is sitting on my desk as I write this. So, we are still in hell and grieving so very hard. But, Katie somehow made this really awful thing a little better for all of us. My dad would have liked her very much. Love and hugs to Katie.
For the first few days, we were hoping beyond hope that he would wake up. We had multiple great nurses and doctors advising us and reporting on test results. After a few days, Katie Brien became our nurse. By this time, we knew things weren't good. But, it was still so hard to imagine that at 74, and extremely healthy, my dad was in a position where he would never be able to live a normal life. The shock and pain compounded. He was our rock and our superhero. We had yet to consider his mortality given the shape he was in. Yet here we were, faced with such awful, painful hell. Katie was exactly what we needed at that time.
We needed honest answers, delivered with compassion. It is trite, but I'll say it anyway. Katie went above and beyond. This is from my mom: "Katie is an efficient, capable, and knowledgeable nurse. But those aren't her most outstanding qualities. Katie knew what we needed...how much and how little...and became part of our family. She quickly learned everyone's names, and there were ten of us! She was very astute, supportive, and intuitive. One late afternoon, as I was squeezed into the hospital bed with my husband, I began to feel panicky. I needed to know the reality of T's condition, and I needed to hear it from a caring but direct person.
Katie came into T's room immediately, pulled up a chair next to the bed, and literally rolled up her sleeves and asked, "How can I help? What do you need?" She held my hand and talked to me. I believe I would not have been able to navigate through this experience without the support of this remarkable person."
When it was time to bring my dad home for hospice, Katie came with him in the ambulance to our house. How did she know we needed her to do that? We didn't even know we needed her to do that. But she did. And it was amazing. Additionally, she brought us all little keepsakes--bits of my dad's EKG in little test tubes. It is sitting on my desk as I write this. So, we are still in hell and grieving so very hard. But, Katie somehow made this really awful thing a little better for all of us. My dad would have liked her very much. Love and hugs to Katie.