Coming back to work on Tuesday, after a holiday weekend, I learned that one of my nurses, Penny Philmon, ASN, RN, RN-BC (65 Med/Surg), had an 18-year-old nephew in the NeuroSurgical ICU due to sustaining a spinal cord injury over the weekend. This young man was supposed to graduate from high school that coming Friday. That week, Penny inquired if a conference room could be reserved, so that if the patient was stable enough, maybe the family could throw him a surprise graduation party here at UF Health Shands. On Thursday morning, I approached the Clinical Leaders of NeuroSurgical ICU, 10-5 Med/Surg, 11-5 Surgical, and Medical ICU, to see what we could do for this young man. Haydee Dimaano, MSN, RN, CCRN (CL MICU) and Julie Arnold, MSN, RN (NM MICU) helped secure the MICU conference room for the family to use. Unfortunately, this is a pretty small room and we quickly realized that they would need more space.

On Friday, the day of graduation, the patient was transferred to Unit 11-5 Surgical and Letitia Williams, MSN, RN, RN-BC (CL 11-5), Justine Abram, MSN, RN, CNRN (NM 11-5), and the 11-5 nursing staff went right into action! The Charge Nurse, Suzanne Tan, MSN, RN, RN-BC and the patient's primary nurse, Jillisa Carter, BSN, RN, were instrumental in ensuring that this graduation party would be a success. These two young ladies were in communication with the parents throughout the day about the plans and making sure we could secure a large enough room so that all family and friends could attend. As this patient's story has already been in the news, the family wanted to makes sure this would be a private affair. The family's wishes were communicated to the 11-5 Leadership team to ensure our media department was aware. With the help of Chris Cassisi (Director of Patient Experience), they were able to secure a larger room for this family's celebration. The nursing staff on 11-5 and leadership from MICU and Neuro ICU even offered to help get decorations and set up for the party. Graduation was scheduled for 8pm and when the family arrived for the party, there were computers and a projector screen already set up for them to view the out of town graduation live. They were able to watch this young man's sister accept his diploma for him. The patient was also able to watch the graduation from his bed space. The patient's sister and mother returned to UF Health Shands that evening after the graduation ceremony so they could celebrate with this young man. Justine and Letitia came in that evening and, with the help of 11-5 nursing staff, put the patient in a purple gown made by his aunt (purple and gold are the school colors). They assisted the patient to a stretcher chair so that he could sit up and then wheeled the patient downstairs where the surprise party was being held. The patient was able to attend his graduation party along with some 50 family members and close friends! The patient's friends even decorated a graduation cap for him to wear along with his purple gown. The superintendent of the school and the High School principal attended to personally award this young man his diploma. Although he couldn't stay very long, the patient was able to spend time with his family and friends, and celebrate his high school graduation. Thank you to all those who helped this young man and his family celebrate a monumental time in his life!