Thomas Hay
December 2022
Thomas
Hay
,
MSN, RN
Emergency Department
Swedish Medical Center - First Hill
Seattle
,
WA
United States

 

 

 

J. was caring for a patient in the Emergency Department who is well known to us with 42 ED visits in 12 months, and Tom was passing by as he was asking for help. While this wasn't Tom's patient, Tom chose to take the time to clean the man's feet, like he asked for, as his feet were black from dirt and dust from walking outside bare footed. Through multiple ED visits this week, no one had taken the time to clean this patient's feet. It would have been easy and justifiable for Tom to say no and say he was too busy, as he was already managing an IMCU patient, as well as an ED patient in early work up. Tom truly embodied the Swedish ideals of Compassion and Dignity by taking the time to do what could be considered a menial or unnecessary task for the sake of the patient's request.