My brother Bob has a rare neurological condition called Sturge-Weber Syndrome. He's had it since he was born and has been hospitalized for at least a week multiple times throughout his life. My family has seen a lot of nurses and hospital staff as you can imagine. One thing we've gotten used to is that sticking Bob with a needle is really annoying. He's usually only semi-lucid when he has to come into the hospital to treat his condition and he flails around in confusion quite a bit. I'm Bob's twin brother and it's heartbreaking for my family and me to see him on his bad days during high episodes of hospitalization, especially because he's very capable and "normal" on his good days. The last time Bob had to go the hospital was in 2012. The staff at that hospital were wonderful but they could not get a needle into his arm for fluids. They tried a lot but Bob's veins are barely visible on a good day and if he starts panicking then it becomes next to impossible to get him stuck. In 2012 we only managed to get a needle in while Bob was at home because I held his good arm down while the nurses dug into his hand for a vein. I'm in the Army and I work as a bomb disposal tech so I feel pretty confident calling myself a tough SOB but that experience from 2012 reduced me to tears and gave me nightmares for weeks afterward. When we came to this hospital that experience was the only thing I could think of. We're from Pennsylvania and we were visiting family so we were all nervous about visiting a random hospital. Our nurse took a look at Bob's arm to stick the IV in and almost immediately says "let me go get some help". As soon as she said that I started tearing up, immediately certain I'd be holding my semi-conscious, scared, confused twin brother down as he moans and screams just as in 2012. But when Matt got there, he was immediately a calming presence to Bob and chatted with him about Star-Trek (his favorite) for a few minutes while coaxing a vein out of his arm and somehow managed to stick him so quick that Bob didn't even realize what happened even though he was waiting for that needle with as much trepidation as I was. I know it's a little thing for a nurse, just sticking an IV in, but I cannot explain how significant Matt's act was in that moment. My family has spent so much time with Bob in the hospital and we all have our traumatic memories of sitting next to him praying that he beats his awful, unfair condition and we all have our happy, joyful memories of our victories when he succeeded time and time again. Matt took the time with Bob, a random patient he wasn't even charged with, to make him comfortable and calm while performing his work in a skillful fashion. He impressed me and my family and truly helped us start on our road to recovery and helped to start erasing our memories of a holiday gone wrong and make some memories of Bob's victory over adversity which we cherish.
Matt was extraordinary and exactly what we needed in this trying situation.