MS-1 cared for a young woman that was diagnosed with breast cancer and who was in and out of the hospital for a few years. What we knew about this patient was that she had a loving mother that visited daily, a beautiful daughter that was expecting the families’ first grandchild and a love for the musical group Earth, Wind and Fire whom she had seen 28 times in concert. Over time her disease became progressively worse. Anna Schmidt knew these details and the importance they held for our patient. One shift Anna thought out loud “if we could have Make a Wish for children, why couldn’t we have something similar for our patients?” Anna felt this could give our patient hope to hang on a little longer to see the arrival of her first grandchild. Anna called the Social Worker and told them of her idea. A call was made and on a Saturday morning Philip Bailey, the leader singer of Earth, Wind and Fire flew to Santa Rosa from LA to meet our patient. He spent a lot of time with our patient taking pictures and talking. This was the 29th time she got to see Earth, Wind and Fire. Several months later her granddaughter was born. Our patient was able to bear witness. Our patient touched our lives and helped all of us take patient care to another level died two months later.
Anna connects with her patients on a personal level. She brings forth the little things, the fine details that matter to each of our patients.