We have a 25-year-old patient with a very prolonged hospital stay and a childlike demeanor. Lately, you can see that his time in the hospital and away from home has caused significant depression and withdrawn behavior. While most nurses are kind enough to get to know him enough to know his favorite shows to turn on, Tom went beyond the extra mile. He talked with both the patient and his father to figure out what brought him the most joy. Tom then advocated to the team to have him reevaluated by speech to see if his diet could be advanced to be able to eat the foods he loves again.

Every time I walked by the room, Tom was making jokes, laughing, dancing, and outfitting art materials to help his grip and dexterity to be able to color and draw. He spent hours in the room with him playing cards and making this patient laugh harder than he had in his entire 132-day hospital stay. I know it meant the world to this patient and it really showed who Tom is as a person as well as a nurse. Despite his own mental fatigue from seeing this patient suffer, Tom went out of his way to be a bright light when the patient needed it the most. He is handedly one of the most compassionate people I have ever worked with. I know when Tom has my patients, that they'll be better for it.