I am the patient provider advocate for Slidell Memorial Hospital. In April 2024, I received a phone call from a patient's husband, who arrived at the emergency department with his wife, W. W has cancer and has been in and out of the hospital many times over the last year. On a couple of those occasions, her husband called into advocacy with concerns about his wife’s health and feeling helpless. W is his second wife, his first wife sadly passed away of cancer. Watching W as her illness progressed over the months was very upsetting to him and it was like reliving his first marriage over again dealing with the disease.

In April 2024, the couple was back in the emergency department. On this visit, he encountered Mary Thibodeaux. Mary noticed the husband was upset and pulled him aside to ask him how he was doing as the caregiver. After all this time, nobody has taken a moment to check on him and see how he was doing dealing with his wife’s illness. He states that the compassion he felt was overwhelming. Mary was able to assist in the options that were available to the couple. The wife did decide to go on hospice, and they both felt like having to make such a difficult decision was made easier with Mary’s support. He called advocacy to make sure leadership was aware of her kindness and the lasting effect of her empathy, hugs, and kind words on the couple.