Working on a floor that cares for pediatric patients with cancer is without question a daunting task. In my time on 4 Hope, I have seen some amazing things from all of the nursing staff and it warms my heart daily. Working in pediatrics is difficult, but working in pediatrics around the holidays adds another dimension of difficulty and emotional hardship.
I was working on an unusually busy Christmas Eve and offered to de-access an oncology patient for Molly. I was chatting with the patient (who is an adult), and he told me that there was a chance he wouldn't be discharged to his family and his 2-year-old daughter for Christmas, but that Molly made that happen. He went on to say that he was unable to pay for a required medication for his chemo regimen, so the MDs would need to keep him so he could continue to receive it in the hospital. Molly wanted to see that he was home with his family for Christmas, so she graciously paid for the medication and he was on his way home to his daughter.
I see the compassion she has for all of her patients daily, and families adore her positive attitude and dedication to her job. Her positive attitude extends beyond patients and families, as staff can hear her singing from patient rooms during painful/frightening procedures. I always look forward to her belting out Justin Bieber or Adele while I start an IV or draw a patient's blood.
Molly advocates for her patients in a way that is rare and exceptional and that is what I love about her. She will do anything to make procedures, lab draws, IV sticks, etc. better for them whether it is by telling stories, singing her obnoxious songs, or just getting the kid to smile. She pushes the kids (in a good way!) too. She can get almost any type of patient (sickle cell, post op) up and out of bed and walking the halls. I am always hearing her trying to get patients to do their incentive spirometers or drink more or take their medicine. If the kid comes back with a no, she finds a way to make them do it - like mixing their meds in a shake that she makes. She is a nurse that I would want to take care of my child because she is such a fighter for the patients and families when sometimes they cannot even fight for themselves.
Her positivity is infectious and it brightens up the floor even on the saddest of days! She is consistently making an effort to make 4Hope a better place- hanging funny nurse memes/jokes on the fridge, making attempts to plan staff gatherings, and cracking jokes at the pod. She is a nurse who everyone enjoys working with.
She sacrificed her time to give up a week of her summer last year to attend sickle cell camp with me in New York. We took sickle cell patients but there were all sorts of illnesses represented at the camp (spina bifida, CP, juvenile arthritis, sickle cell, etc.). She was awesome there. She loved on the kids so well, she stepped outside of her comfort zone and took care of some complex kids who were trying to just be a normal kid and get to go to camp. I remember she was so nervous the day the kids came because we knew some of these kids were really sick, but she instantly became a comfort and support for the boys in her cabin and helped literally nurse them through the week. The kids loved her and if she wasn't being their nurse at that moment, she was letting loose and playing with the kids and helping these kids have the best week. After this week, she started talking about her passion for sickle cell and oncology patients, and I watched her apply things that she had learned at camp about these kids and their families to the bedside back in Oak Lawn. She loved on the kids with even more compassion and had a better understanding of what these patients' day to day looks like at home.
She also stands out when it comes to nursing students or new nurses. She is incredibly patient with them and takes extra time in educating them and making sure they understand what they are doing/learning. She sees nursing students and orientees as a priority; like one of her patients. She is always looking for opportunities for new nurses to learn something unfamiliar, and she sets them up to succeed when they transfer over to nights. She also dedicates her time to teaching nurses in pediatric LEARN every month.
Molly has helped me develop the passion I have for hem/onc, and she has been the one I talk to after the hard shifts. She inspires me to be a better nurse and has taught me what it means to truly advocate for my patients. She represents 4 Hope and Advocate so well, and I know that if you all could see all what I see throughout the shifts, months, and years Molly and I have worked together you would undoubtedly agree.