Katie is truly a very compassionate a caring person. She always tries to take care of her patients the way she would want her family members cared for. One instance of this, she sat at the bedside holding the hand of a COVID positive patient transitioning in his end of life journey. When she turned to document on the WOW, he said to her, "Please don't leave me." He was anxious and afraid as he was struggling to breathe through his secretions. Katie sat with him, holding his hand while simultaneously continuing care, suctioning fluids, and talking him through his fears while they waited for his wife to arrive.
She said to him, "You have to hang on for your wife, she's driving in now. You're going to hang on for her right?" to which he agreed with a weak nod. Katie stayed right by his side until she could put the hand she was holding into the hand of his wife who was rushing her 40-minute drive to get here in time to say goodbye.
What Katie did was nothing new, it had nothing to do with Coronavirus and everything to do with the compassionate heart of a nurse. She said, "I just put myself in the family's position and if my dad was laying in that bed I would want someone to stay and hold his hand if I couldn't be here." We are very lucky to have such a wonderful person on our team.