Working in a hospital, we see many things throughout the course of our busy days. Many things we may note in passing, unaware of the moment and the significance it may have in someone's life. I had the honor of seeing such a moment, and the tremendous compassion showed by House Supervisor Laura Bennett.
We had a patient code in a room on the 1st floor, after minutes before talking with his wife and cardiologist at bedside. The response was quick, and efforts valiant. But after 30 minutes the hospitalist began speaking to the wife about stopping all efforts. She was very distraught, and was brought in to see how hard the staff was trying to bring her husband back. She finally agreed to stop all efforts, and was grief stricken. That is when I saw Laura step in.
Laura sat with the wife at the nurses' station, in side-by-side chairs and comforted her. They cried together, because at that moment they shared a common bond, a bond that a passing stranger might never know. Laura knew first-hand the pain of loss, of letting go of the one you love more than anything. She shared with this woman her own story of letting go of her precious daughter, of the pain of being left behind.
It was the truest moment, of crystal clarity, about the heart of compassion and the bonds we share in life and loss. Laura encouraged her to not lose faith, and the woman said she would not. Laura kept her in her prayers throughout the day, praying for her comfort and peace.
Every day we touch lives, and every day we watch miracles happen. Sometimes they are what we think they should be, and other times they are more than we could possibly imagine. I nominate Laura Bennett for the DAISY Award, for sharing of herself in a way that epitomizes a DAISY nurse…being a miracle to a woman who needed someone to open her heart and share feelings of love and loss. It was a powerful moment that I will always remember.