Trauma Surgical ICU

Years ago, HS was involved in a car accident that left him paraplegic. Since then, he has undergone countless operations to battle the complications and sequalae of disease after spinal cord injury.

HS came to the Penn Presbyterian Medical Center's Trauma Surgical Intensive Care Unit for a last chance major operation, of which fewer than 100 have been ever performed in the US, with one goal in mind: to make it to his son's wedding.

After the operation, his uphill battle was far from over, in fact, maybe just beginning. After multiple setbacks and complications leading to complex, multi-system critical care management, it was becoming clear that we weren't sure he was going to be able to be there for the wedding.

We began talking about our concerns with HS about a month before the wedding, 4 months into his stay with us, and started exploring options on how to get the wedding to him. We involved multiple specialties - palliative care, social work, case managers, infectious disease, orthopedics, trauma/emergency surgery, the hospitals IT department - all to come together to see how we could help HS to achieve his goal in the safest, most realistic way possible.

After determining there was no safe way to have HS at the wedding in person, over 2 hours away from the hospital, the nursing staff kicked into action to make it the most special day possible for HS.

Nursing helped him to feel his best- a fresh haircut and shave. Nursing brought his white button up shirt from home to make sure it was fresh and clean and pressed, and brought in a boutonnière, so he felt like the Father of the Groom.

Nursing coordinated with IT to have a laptop and TV in his room in order to live stream the wedding via Zoom- and with the help of family, tested the interface multiple times during the week.

Nursing decorated his room with balloons and tidied it up to make it feel less like a hospital room. Nursing celebrated with HS all day long, taking pictures to commemorate the moment and are making a scrapbook to present him with a memento from the day.

Yet, the icing on the cake hadn't even occurred yet. Nursing coordinated with HS's son and his new bride to surprise HS in their wedding day attire the day after the wedding.

The nurses told HS he needed to get back dressed up to take some more pictures with the nurse, HS agreed. His son and new daughter-in-law arrived after their over 2-hour drive, got changed in the MD fellow call room, and surprised HS at his bedside.

A moment that didn't leave a dry eye in the unit. They brought flowers from the wedding and their favors to share HS and staff. Most importantly, they all got to spend time together and HS ultimately got to see his son and new daughter-in-law.

We strive to treat every single patient like family, but it's not often that patients actually become family.

It is truly a gift that we were able to leave a lasting and positive wedding day experience for this patient and his family.

Going above and beyond is the norm at PPMC, especially in the TSICU. We don't just treat the disease, but we treat the patient as a whole.

As the team DAISY award states, "while an idea to achieve better patient and family outcomes may start with one individual, if often takes an entire team to implement successfully."

The collaboration and teamwork that went into making this day so special for HS was extraordinary. A day that he and his family will remember forever, made possible by the nurses and support staff of the PPMC TSICU.