The LBJ 4B Team recently cared for a female patient with progressive cancer. Her prognosis was very poor and she was given a 2-week survival rate. The patient was a mother of three young children. Each day when the girls visited, they would be greeted by smiling faces and given stickers and hugs. The patient helped the girls to collect stickers and start scrapbooking to help serve as keepsakes for when their mother would no longer be there to spend time with them. The patient spent approximately a week on the unit. The LBJ 4B Team collaborated together to ensure she would go home with Hospice care and support. When she was discharged, the nursing staff sent her home with hugs and support.
Approximately 4 weeks later, the nursing staff received news that the patient had passed. She had gotten the chance to spend Thanksgiving and one of her daughter's birthdays with her family. The LBJ 4B Team knew Christmas would be hard for the husband and three girls left behind. Without a second thought, one of our nurses took the lead and sent out a group text to our nursing staff for gift donations for the family. Together with Child Life and Social Work, the LBJ 4B Team developed a plan to provide gifts and donations to the family for Christmas. Over the next few weeks, staff rallied together in excitement as they purchased items. The staff collected over $300 in gifts cards as well as clothes, toys, stickers, and scrapbook making materials and was able to donate to the patient's family.
If you asked the LBJ 4B Team, they would think nothing of this gesture, but not only did it make a difference in the lives of this family, it enriched all of our lives. It brought us as a staff closer together.