I first met Cindy when I began orienting this January. Her sweet and caring personality makes her easy to like, so she is well-loved by our IR staff. I also enjoy learning from her because of the years of nursing experience and clinical expertise she brings to the department. Shortly after I began working there, I coincidentally found myself as a patient at Sanford needing a procedure done in IR and Cindy must have drawn the short straw that day because she was my nurse!
As I counted the hours in outpatient recovery afterward, I thought about the care that I had received from Cindy. I have had very little experience with "being the patient," but I can think of few other times in my life when I felt that well taken care of by another person. She made me feel at ease with a delicate balance of compassion and humor and she ensured by gown was always covering my backside. My husband could not be in the room to hold my hand, so of course Cindy did that too when she had one to spare. Because I jokingly consider myself somewhat of a wimp, I naturally shed a few tears and who was there to wipe them away? None other than Cindy.
As I reflected on the overwhelming quality of care I received, I realized how Cindy cared for me that day is how she cares for all of her patients every day. I do not know how many times I have walked past a holding room in radiology and heard Cindy's sweet voice reassuring her patient that she would not leave their side or how many times I have seen her delicately place a hand on her patient's shoulder and give a comforting squeeze.
The day I became her patient, I did not realize Cindy would re-teach me an important lesson about the "art of nursing" that we all learn in Nursing School. She reminded me how powerful endless doses of compassion, respect, concern, and empathy can be during a patient's hospital stay that can ultimately follow them outside of our hospital doors and beyond. So Cindy, thank you for the reminder and thank you for the excellent care that I will never forget.