Natalie Cheevers and I took care of a 50 something-year-old male who had a stroke in the setting of COVID but without respiratory concerns. This patient is a musician, specifically a guitarist. He was visiting here from California and did not have local family support. Eventually, he was discharged home. While he was under our care, it occurred to me his rehab might be assisted if he had a guitar. His guitar was destroyed in a truck accident that happened because of his stroke. Natalie and I made it our mission to find him a guitar. We were not successful by the time of his discharge, but we did not give up the desire to see the plan materialize. Following this, Natalie had to go to California for what turned out to be her father's end-of-life. He had been ill and took an acute turn for the worse, and ultimately died. Natalie and her siblings were cleaning out their father's home when Natalie found a guitar that was very meaningful to her father - even though he did not get to play it. At that moment, Natalie came to believe that the guitar was always intended for her patient. We schemed together to get it to him. She will include a letter explaining the origins of the guitar, and what it means for her to deliver it to its rightful and long-intended owner.

This is not the first time that Natalie has been a "co-conspirator" in doing something special for a patient. She was instrumental in helping put on a breakfast date for another patient who was demented but still had memories of taking his wife for a weekly Saturday breakfast date. Others helped, but Natalie was key to arranging the breakfast date in the visitor lounge. The patient died while still in the hospital, and who knows how long he remembered it, but he and his wife enjoyed a final breakfast date. His family has photos to share for generations.

Natalie deserves to be recognized for always going above and beyond for her patients' medical and emotional best. 8-2 is lucky to have her, and I am always grateful when she is caring for my patients because I know she always has their best at heart.