Kris Oestmann recently joined our Parker team here on CMO and we are beyond lucky to have her. She is phenomenal, knowledgeable, kind, caring, and today she showed the utmost compassion during the end of life of an inmate that is very familiar to our unit. I was blown away by her compassion that I witnessed today. She literally was an angel of God during his final moments on earth.
I saw Kris sitting in the dark with him, holding his hand, comforting him, whispering to him. This inmate did not have any family or friends during his final moments and has never been able to have any visitors, but he had Kris, his nurse. She asked the guards to remove his shackles for comfort and to allow him to die with dignity and respect during his final moments. I think what I was most amazed about was how she treated him, not as an inmate, but as a human being, a person, a somebody.
I not only had Goosebumps but cried with the night nurse at shift change knowing he received an angel even before death. She brought him comfort and he was not alone.