It had been an extremely busy day for all of us. Lisa was in charge and had a full assignment. I noticed that Lisa did not take a lunch that day, as she was busy making sure that she was able to give quality care to her own patients and available to help her staff out as well. At the end of the night, we were both clocking out late and I noticed she was carrying a bag of dirty laundry. When I asked her about it she explained to me that it belonged to one of the patients. This patient had mentioned to Lisa that she was wearing her last clean clothes. After an exhausting shift in charge, Lisa went home, did this patients laundry, and brought them back for her the next day.
It is so easy on a busy shift to put things like this off until the next day, or delegate it to someone else. Many other nurses would have given the patient a hospital gown instead, which would have been acceptable, but Lisa knew how much having her own clothes meant to this patient and took the time to make sure that she didn't have to give that up. As a younger and newer nurse, I am so grateful to have a leader like Lisa on my unit.
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Lisa has been providing compassionate care for patients and families on our unit for over 25 years and is so deserving of this recognition. She routinely goes above and beyond to add that special touch to everything she does and is an incredible role model for future nurses entering the profession. We are so fortunate to have Lisa as part of our team and we are so proud of her.