Sabine Hershberger
February 2015
Sabine
Hershberger
,
RN
ICU
Beaufort Memorial Hospital
Beaufort
,
SC
United States
No words can describe Sabine Hershberger's extraordinary nursing skills better than the daughter of a patient she cared for:
My mother was a recent patient in the Beaufort Memorial Hospital Intensive Care Unit. She had been unwell since April of this year, but it was only shortly before her death that she was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, which took her from us much sooner than we ever could have anticipated.
My brother and I, who both live a considerable distance away (Massachusetts and Switzerland respectively), flew home as soon as possible without really understanding what we would face when we got there. I was the last to arrive, late on a Friday night and directly from the airport, which is not the best of times to encounter sad news under any circumstances.
Sabine Hershberger, who was the attending RN for the night shift, not only made me feel immediately welcome, but had also clearly established an easy and trusting rapport with my father. It was a great relief to us to know that my father had not been left entirely alone during the long hours at Mama's bedside over the last several terrifying days.
From the start, we all appreciated Sabine for her openness when answering our questions. She gave us clear and compassionate feedback without providing false hope or delivering personal judgment as to what we as family should be thinking or feeling. In addition, her competence as a nurse was indisputable. By the time I arrived, Mama's kidneys had already begun to fail, but Sabine was by no means prepared to give up on her. She walked us through the various treatment options still open to her and, cognizant of the long days and trips we all had behind us, provided an exact schedule of when she would administer them. In this way, we were able to go home to get the rest we needed (I was 17 weeks pregnant at the time), while still having the option to contact her at relevant times for updates.
During this time with Sabine, we also learned that she had spent the better part of her youth in Germany and was fluent in Mama's native language. In spite of the distressing nature of our situation, Sabine's infectious smile and willingness to engage with us on such a personal level meant that we still had occasion to achieve the kind of lighthearted atmosphere my mother would have enjoyed and encouraged had she been able. Upon returning to the hospital the next morning, it was heartwarming to find a handwritten note in German from Sabine and to know that she had kept our family on her mind throughout that difficult night.
By Saturday, it was clear that Mama's health would not recover and we began our sad vigil at 6:00 that evening. Sabine came to look in on us the moment her shift began an hour later and, aware that this could well be a long night for us, she made sure we had something to eat and went to the trouble of securing an extra recliner for us so that both my father and I could rest as needed (if there'd been room for a third, she would have found one for my brother, as well!). While she regularly checked on my mother to ensure she was as comfortable as could be, Sabine never once became impatient with us for being in the way of her access to the machines and Mama's bedside.
More importantly, she seemed to understand when we needed privacy and when it gave us pleasure to share our memories with her. My brother played slideshows of photos from our family over the last ten years and Sabine was a willing and responsive sounding board to the stories we wanted and, indeed, needed to tell. Her obvious appreciation for my mother, whom she had the opportunity to get to know in the time before our arrival, and her dedication to us in those final hours left us secure in the knowledge that Mama spent her last nights in the company of a kind, attentive person, who did everything possible to make her feel comfortable and cared for. For this, we thank you from the heart, Sabine.
My mother was a recent patient in the Beaufort Memorial Hospital Intensive Care Unit. She had been unwell since April of this year, but it was only shortly before her death that she was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, which took her from us much sooner than we ever could have anticipated.
My brother and I, who both live a considerable distance away (Massachusetts and Switzerland respectively), flew home as soon as possible without really understanding what we would face when we got there. I was the last to arrive, late on a Friday night and directly from the airport, which is not the best of times to encounter sad news under any circumstances.
Sabine Hershberger, who was the attending RN for the night shift, not only made me feel immediately welcome, but had also clearly established an easy and trusting rapport with my father. It was a great relief to us to know that my father had not been left entirely alone during the long hours at Mama's bedside over the last several terrifying days.
From the start, we all appreciated Sabine for her openness when answering our questions. She gave us clear and compassionate feedback without providing false hope or delivering personal judgment as to what we as family should be thinking or feeling. In addition, her competence as a nurse was indisputable. By the time I arrived, Mama's kidneys had already begun to fail, but Sabine was by no means prepared to give up on her. She walked us through the various treatment options still open to her and, cognizant of the long days and trips we all had behind us, provided an exact schedule of when she would administer them. In this way, we were able to go home to get the rest we needed (I was 17 weeks pregnant at the time), while still having the option to contact her at relevant times for updates.
During this time with Sabine, we also learned that she had spent the better part of her youth in Germany and was fluent in Mama's native language. In spite of the distressing nature of our situation, Sabine's infectious smile and willingness to engage with us on such a personal level meant that we still had occasion to achieve the kind of lighthearted atmosphere my mother would have enjoyed and encouraged had she been able. Upon returning to the hospital the next morning, it was heartwarming to find a handwritten note in German from Sabine and to know that she had kept our family on her mind throughout that difficult night.
By Saturday, it was clear that Mama's health would not recover and we began our sad vigil at 6:00 that evening. Sabine came to look in on us the moment her shift began an hour later and, aware that this could well be a long night for us, she made sure we had something to eat and went to the trouble of securing an extra recliner for us so that both my father and I could rest as needed (if there'd been room for a third, she would have found one for my brother, as well!). While she regularly checked on my mother to ensure she was as comfortable as could be, Sabine never once became impatient with us for being in the way of her access to the machines and Mama's bedside.
More importantly, she seemed to understand when we needed privacy and when it gave us pleasure to share our memories with her. My brother played slideshows of photos from our family over the last ten years and Sabine was a willing and responsive sounding board to the stories we wanted and, indeed, needed to tell. Her obvious appreciation for my mother, whom she had the opportunity to get to know in the time before our arrival, and her dedication to us in those final hours left us secure in the knowledge that Mama spent her last nights in the company of a kind, attentive person, who did everything possible to make her feel comfortable and cared for. For this, we thank you from the heart, Sabine.