My mom was hospitalized on 5 Center for 3 days. She had been a patient there the week of Christmas when she got her new diagnosis of metastatic liver cancer. This time she had several strokes as a complication of the cancer and had significant expressive aphasia and slight R hand/arm weakness. Bailey was briefly my mom's admission nurse that first day, but it wasn't until the following day that I realized how I knew her. I work on 4 West as a senior night charge nurse. Bailey had responded to a behavioral MET call we'd had on an elderly patient when she worked on 2 East as a tech. I remember being very impressed with her at that time because of how calm she was with the patient and the ease with which she developed a rapport with him. It was her, more than the nurses that the patient responded to.
Bailey was my mom's day nurse for 2 days. As soon as I made the connection that I knew who Bailey was, I immediately felt comfortable with her caring for mom even though she'd been a nurse less than a year. And caring Bailey never tried to rush her when she was trying to get her words out, which was a struggle. Even though I knew that her to-do list had to be a mile long. She got us moved into a suite since both my fiancée and I were staying overnight with my mom. Bailey encouraged my mom to walk in the hall so I didn't have to be the bad guy when suggesting it.
The 2nd full day she took care of my mom she rolled her scrub pants up, took my mom down to the big shower on 5 Center and personally helped get her washed up when she easily could've delegated this task to 2 of the techs. She bought my mom Diet Coke and M&Ms from the gift shop because they were her favorites.
The morning that we decided we wanted to go home, she helped to get all disciplines on the same page so we could make it home by early evening. She made sure my mom had pain medication for the ride home. Bailey was always very respectful of my perspective as a fellow nurse and also my perspective as a daughter, the person who knew my mom best. She always did her best to find out answers to my questions or get whatever we asked for. Bailey also took the time to get to know us, our family situation, not just my mom.
When we talked after my mom passed away, Bailey knew the name of my mom's dog, my fiancée's name and even my cousin's youngest son who was like a grandson to my mom. Without even knowing it, she helped ease the situation for me too which was extremely difficult, to say the least. I can only imagine what great things this woman will do in her nursing career considering how far beyond her years she is already. She has a gift in connecting with people that I am jealous of even after being a nurse for almost 19 years.