My Father-in-law found himself a patient in the Emergency Department in February 2012. He had been experiencing chest pain for several hours before calling me to see what else he could do. My father-in-law is not a fan of any hospital and honestly was trying to ignore the increasing chest pain. Previously in 2011, he needed the services of the hospital and unfortunately did not have a good experience. So he was very reluctant to alert anyone. After calling 911 and being brought to the Emergency Room, I must say after walking through the doors…we were truly impressed!

The Emergency Room was extremely busy when the ambo arrived, so he needed to be held in the hallway along with several other patients. At first, he was uncomfortable being “exposed”, but each staff member that walked by told him they would get him a room ASAP. This reassured him that he was not forgotten. Within 10 minutes, he was able to get a room. My father-in-law was assigned Shawn Curry as his nurse. From the moment Shawn entered his room…he had my father-in-law at “Hello”. My family is not easily impressed, but my in-laws were impressed with Shawn. They did not know that he is a recent new graduate until I told them when my father-in-law was being transported to PCU. Shawn had put my father-in-law at ease, explained everything in a manner that he understood and also provided the most basic need-comfort to my father-in-law. My father-in-law cannot lie on a stretcher due to multiple medical conditions. Shawn was able to find the bariatric chair that converts to a cardiac chair. This allowed my father-in-law to position and reposition himself every couple of minutes. You see, he uses an electric lift chair at home 24/7. Having the hand controls to constantly change his position made him feel more in control of the situation. I can’t thank Shawn enough! Because of his caring and compassion, it presented a “good experience” to start out this admission.