The PCU Team recently had the pleasure of taking care of a 100-year-old patient who was admitted to the unit with pneumonia and remained on heated high flow for the duration of her admission. On day 2, with no improvement and still on heated high flow, Dr. Ellis discussed care goals with the patient and daughter at the bedside. Although the patient did not want any aggressive measures, and at this point was a DNR/DNI, her wish was to remain on the heated high flow until her birthday as she wanted to be able to celebrate turning 101. This was not your average 100-year-old patient; she was very coherent and sharp as a tack, alert & oriented, and was an active young lady before getting sick with pneumonia.

Over the next 7 days on the unit, the Team got to know this sweet lady and heard some fantastic stories and great advice. A few examples were that she was from the Jersey area and could see the Empire State Building go up, starting with "the first brick." She was a huge advocate for women's rights and was among the first members. She shared that she received a pin for 0.59 cents, representing every $1.00 a man earned, while a woman only earned $0.59 cents. She also mentioned that "we women have to stick together." Her advice for living a long life was to eat vegetables, not too much sugar, and drink red wine every night. Dr. Ellis was willing to provide the "doctor's order" for that.

On her birthday, our goal as a team was to make her feel special and to celebrate her all day. Everyone working that day wore Gatsby-themed beads, flapper hats complete with feathers, gangster hats with ties (just for Jared), and birthday hats. Her room was decorated with a Happy Birthday banner and a #101 balloon in gold; banners were put up in and outside her room, featuring 1930s sayings like "Capone's Hideout," "Bootleggers Welcome," "Speakeasy," and "Pop, Fizz, Klink." Dr. Ellis bought her favorite cake, strawberry shortcake. Staff spoke with the daughters about the plan to celebrate their Mom, and they were both there to join in on the celebration. At 10 AM, we all went in together to sing Happy Birthday to her as she blew out a "candle." One of the team members bought pizza for everyone's lunch, and she got whatever else she wanted for the whole day.

The next day, per the patient's wishes, she did not want to take any medications and requested the heated high flow to be taken off, and Dr. Ellis rounded and spoke with the patient. The patient and family decided to place the patient on CMO status. The RN kept the patient comfortable that day, and she ended up passing away that night with both daughters at her bedside around 8 PM at 101 years old!

The Team did a fantastic job maintaining her dignity and fulfilling her wishes for how she wanted to leave this Earth throughout her stay in the unit. I am proud to work alongside such a fantastic group of humans in healthcare for the right reasons—showing care and compassion to the patients they care for daily.