Soon Hong truly epitomized the caring and compassion aspect of nursing of Relationship Based Care before it became a theory. Soon finds meaning to her daily work by being kind and compassionate, not only to her patients, but to all the people she encounters. For example, each Christmas, she gives a gift to all members of her team that she feels has a valuable impact on her patient's lives. She has been known to give small gifts to hospital transporters who go above and beyond to provide the patient with an excellent experience. When 4 NW hired a new ANII, she provided her with a leadership snow glob with her name and position engraved, showing appreciation and solidarity.
Regarding her patients, for as long as I can remember (more than 8 years), Soon has taken on the role of Birthday Fairy. Soon has celebrated every patient's birthday on her floor. She purchases balloons and stuffed animals for every patient that is "stuck" in the hospital for their birthday. Additionally, when bestowing her gifts upon the patients, she gathers all the staff that are working and has them "celebrate" the event by singing Happy Birthday- making it a "unit" acknowledgement.
This small but thoughtful endeavor had such a huge impact on one of our patients. Mr. V was a man who suffers from chronic illness since 2003 and acquired a non-healing wound that required extensive treatment and surgery. Upon admission to our unit, Mr. V. was depressed and withdrawn; he was not the easiest patient to care for. He has been in and out of the hospital repeatedly and had verbalized his hopelessness to several staff members. Soon was assigned to Mr. V. during one of his more dire periods of depression. Mr. V projected his frustration to whoever was in his presence and had been very frustrated and abusive towards Soon. This did not deter Soon from living the UCLA vision of delivering acts of kindness. Knowing that it was Mr. V's birthday she continued with her usual ritual of purchasing balloons and a stuffed animal and gathered her colleagues to present the gift and sing the birthday song. Mr. V was speechless and overwhelmed by this act of kindness and compassion. With tears in his eyes he grabbed Soon and gave her a "no-letting go" hug. After collecting himself, Mr. V exclaimed to Soon "nobody has ever done this for me before, you are an angel!" This "challenging" patient then became one of our most loyal clients due to Soon's act of kindness and compassion towards humankind. Soon consistently goes above and beyond her daily responsibilities. She defies all negativism by role modeling the attributes of compassion, caring, happiness and love for her work and life. Soon is a role model for each and every one of us on a daily basis.
Soon's generosity is not only recognized by the staff on 4NW, but also by the UCLA SM Gift Shop, as they are the main purveyors for the gifts that she provides to her patients. Soon truly embodies the essence of the UCLA Vision by Healing human kind one patient at a time by improving health, alleviating suffering and delivering acts of kindness. You could speak to almost any nurse within the SM Medical Center and they would acknowledge that they know Soon, her infectious smile, her general warmth and compassion, and her exemplary clinical skills! She is not only a gift to our patients but a gift to our staff.
Soon is not only a phenomenal nurse but an excellent human being who finds her higher meaning and purpose by caring about other people before herself.