I just spent the week in the most amazing place. It truly is a city of hope- a little sanctuary apart from the rest of the world's negativity, filled with people that give everything they have, every day. And not only do they give their efforts but also their hearts. And among all the wonderful staff or doctor and nurses and cleaners, etc, one heart stood out the most amongst the rest and that was the heart of Nurse Lou Ernald Patricio.
It is a difficult situation to be in for all involved when going to the city of hope and one of the most challenging things is to be in the dark- not knowing what is going on, what to expect, and constantly coming up with new worries but it was a different experience for myself and my family because of Lou. Lou was busy with a lot of patients and I never once saw him when he didn't have many people pulling at him, however every single time, without fail, when I asked him a question, he would stop for a moment, look at me and smile and answer kindly. Question after question, he would do this and always follow it up with saying "if you have more questions, and you see me, just ask. I am happy to answer." Lou was genuine in this statement and never once got bothered or annoyed at the amount and frequency of questions. He provided information until he could see that I was fully satisfied and this allowed my anxiety to melt away each time, instead of my mind running in circles about what could be happening or if I should ask a question or not. For me, this made the largest impact on my experience.
But Lou not only gave his attention to the families (of course) he gave full attention to the patients as well. Not only did he keep up with his duties as a nurse, but he was fully aware of all the events that were happening with patients. In particular, with my father, who was the patient, he noticed every time he readjusted his pillow, or blankets and every time he was uncomfortable, so much so that he volunteered his help in finding a solution for him in the form of a blow-up pillow (not intended as a pillow, but it worked). Now, this may seem like a small feat, but I should mention that at this point we had gone through every option available to us trying to rig up something that would help my father be comfortable. After volunteering his help, Lou listened patiently to exactly what my father needed and I watched him watch my father's movements to figure out what would work. He didn't just offer a suggestion, he really gave everything into solving this problem. About 15 minutes after offering his solution, my father fell asleep for the first time in 2 days. This played a huge role in his recovery and allowed him to gain his strength. I honestly can't imagine how his recovery would have gone otherwise, as he was so exhausted before this.
The pillow incident was not an isolated one. Lou did this throughout the day, every day he was there- and I didn't even get to witness how much he helped all the other patients on the floor. Lou observed all the little things that everyone was going through and helped out with them alongside his work. He made you feel not only like family but like you were the only one in the hospital. This was very evident when he noticed my "happy birthday" sign on the board in my father's room. I even caught him glace, only for a second and then when I met him in the hall he said: "come back at 1 pm, I'm going to gather all the nurses so we can sing Happy Birthday." We have this memorable event on video and I absolutely love it! The joy on my father's face is priceless as well as the big grin on Lou's face. Of course, he had to explain to my father that he couldn't actually eat the piece of cake that he brought but could pretend, and we all had a great laugh at this.
Overall, Lou provided a positive, comfortable, safe and caring environment for us to be in at this time. His duties as a nurse were surpassed in his level of care. With recovery, attitude is everything, and Lou helped that positivity shine for my father and the whole family, leading to a better recovery.
Lou will forever remain in my heart and my memories looking back on this experience- and it will always be a positive one! That is definitely something to be said in my books.
Thank you, Lou. Words are not enough to express the difference you made.