Kennon is the embodiment of compassionate nursing! Kennon is one of the most skilled and intelligent nurses that I have ever met and proficiently cares for some of the sickest kids in our institution. She advocates for her patients regardless of the barriers that she may face. Today, she cared for a very complex, critically ill patient and expertly advocated for his needs with the physician team as they deliberated on how to move forward in his care. She followed this by going above and beyond and showing him extraordinary compassion.
The patient's CRRT dialysis circuit went down near the end of her shift. This very sick, intubated patient had not been held in months and rarely has caregivers at the hospital. Kennon capitalized on this opportunity and took him out of bed, held him tightly, rocked and sang to him for over an hour. I have never seen this patient so comfortable and peaceful in his more than 2-month long admission to the PICU. Kennon had two hours of documentation that needed to be caught up on, but she set this aside to attend to his developmental and emotional needs. This is truly only one example of the extraordinary compassion she showers over the patients and families in her care.
This demonstration of nursing compassion spoke even louder when this same patient unexpectedly passed away less than one week later.
Thank you, Kennon, for always seeing the whole patient and lovingly caring for each patient you have in your care.