Kris Epps and Farrukh Usmonov from the Bellevue Emergency Department have an outstanding way of caring for all patients, however, one particular night had a profound impact on me and other witnesses. I saw firsthand when working with Kris and Farrukh on this night shift when a young couple came into the department with the devastation of having just miscarried their baby early in pregnancy. Although the couple had been to their primary OB doctor and were aware that the miscarriage would take place they were very upset upon arriving, with their baby wrapped up in their arms.
Kris and Farrukh went above and beyond for this couple not only to care for their physical needs but the emotional need of both parents. One of the questions they had was if we could tell if it was a boy or a girl. Kris and Farrukh went above and beyond taking the baby into a separate room at the parent's request, identifying a baby girl, and swaddling the infant in a special blanket we have available for such occasions then letting the mom and dad hold their child for as long as they needed. The caring I witnessed watching those two nurses with the baby girl and her family has changed me as a person; and as a mother myself. What I witnessed has given me respect of these two nurses that I cannot describe in words.
Their compassion did not stop as the morning went on, it was the little things they did that prove they were not "trying" to be nice…it is just fundamentally who they are as people. The infant needed to go for genetic testing and as they were following the policy that stated the fetus needed to be transported to the lab in a "container". Kris and Farrukh went through the storage rooms looking for something…anything that they could lay the baby in that would fit what was necessary, but not just a "container". When they found something that they felt was humane for this baby girl and would work with the policy, and again at the request of the parents after they said goodbye, Farrukh took the baby girl to a separate room wrapped her in a new blanket for transport and gently laid the baby to prepare for transport. The original blanket was then given to the parents for them to keep in memory of their first baby girl. Kris then carried the baby girl to the lab and while singing to her the song "Yes, Jesus Loves You".