Shelley Kuntzman
January 2022
Shelley
Kuntzman
,
RN
ICU
PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend
Springfield
,
OR
United States
When Shelley arrived on Christmas and found out his prognosis, she asked to be their nurse to help them through this process.
On Christmas day, there was a Donor Honor Walk (the first I have had the opportunity to take part in) and it was incredibly heartbreaking. While the beauty of the gift of life for the recipients was not forgotten, the tragedy of seeing this patient’s life lost and his devastated family following him for their last goodbye brought me to tears." A" was also there, equally affected by what we saw, and we wondered what the backstory was and how this holiday tragedy took place. I went to the ICU later to find out and ended up meeting his nurse, who brought me to tears again. I asked her about what had happened, and she explained to me that he had a cardiac event prior to Christmas day, which was then followed by a neurologic event and the Christmas day decision to withdraw care. She explained to me that she herself had a Christmas tragedy and that (even though it was extremely difficult to bring those memories back) she chose to be the nurse for this patient that day. She had taken care of this patient prior and graciously shared with the family her own experience.
When Shelley arrived on Christmas and found out his prognosis, she asked to be their nurse to help them through this process. When I reflect on our lives, I continue to be amazed by the collective compassion that everybody at our PeaceHealth hospitals has brought to their respective patient care roles. In particular, the ICU nurses are extraordinary. To continue to give their all to their patients, despite everything they have been through, is admirable and inspiring. Hearing her offer this family her own story to help them cope, despite what personal pain it may have caused her after an exhausting year, was a beautiful demonstration of true kindness. While what she did touched my heart, its only importance was how much she helped this family through their trauma. I can guarantee that she did not do this for any recognition, but I thought it was important for the administration to know about one of the wonderful souls who is giving extraordinary care to patients and their families.
When Shelley arrived on Christmas and found out his prognosis, she asked to be their nurse to help them through this process. When I reflect on our lives, I continue to be amazed by the collective compassion that everybody at our PeaceHealth hospitals has brought to their respective patient care roles. In particular, the ICU nurses are extraordinary. To continue to give their all to their patients, despite everything they have been through, is admirable and inspiring. Hearing her offer this family her own story to help them cope, despite what personal pain it may have caused her after an exhausting year, was a beautiful demonstration of true kindness. While what she did touched my heart, its only importance was how much she helped this family through their trauma. I can guarantee that she did not do this for any recognition, but I thought it was important for the administration to know about one of the wonderful souls who is giving extraordinary care to patients and their families.