Nicholas Davenport
June 2021
Nicholas
Davenport
,
RN BSN CCRN
CVICU H4N
Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville
Jacksonville
,
FL
United States

 

 

 

Hero Nick worked with Dad in baby steps learning and gaining strength to swallow again.
Hero Nick is an extraordinary nurse. Words cannot express how he operates. I can’t tell you how compassionate he is. In addition, how he showed empathy. He loves nursing. This is a well -rounded nurse with great communication skills. Always looking ahead for seeing a problem before it occurs. His skill set is excellent; he gave high-quality care to my Dad during his 15 day stay. Nick went above and beyond to care for not only my Dad but my sisters and brother as well. He explained everything to us.

Since there are 5 adult siblings, we made a list of questions to ask so things would not seem so crazy. Well we never needed the list; Nick was very forthcoming as to what to expect, when to expect it, who, and where. It was as if he was reading our minds. Blew us away. He not only answered our questions, but he also had a plan as to what would happen if things did not go as planned. We thought Wow! We were just amazed, floored, left in awe. Our Dad, Your United States Army Veteran, was receiving professional, personalized care at 83-years-old; he just went through a double bypass with a 98% blockage. Well, things did not go as planned. Nick was Dad’s nurse 4 straight days in a row. Nick had enjoyed hearing stories about Jacksonville, Fishing, and Milking the cows, etc. Dad had failed his swallow evaluation several times and was very depressed, frail, and weak. He was broken. There was talk about a peg tube, rectal tube, and colostomy during this time from the physicians.

Dad talked about dying; he did not want to be a burden. We all saw his mental status declining in front of our eyes. He wanted the Ng tube out and he wanted to be left alone. Hero Nick had a plan there was no time for contemplating, crying, it was time to work. And that is what Hero Nick did, he put his scrubs on and he went to work. OT & PT had worked with Dad daily for the allotted time which is 30-60 minutes. Nick sat beside Dad during his 12 hour shift, and they did swallow exercises together for 12 hours, in between that they practiced on the incentive spirometry to see who could raise it higher. Nick was doing his part and we did as much as we could on our part; we gathered photos of the grand kids with get well papa signs, we turned the ICU room in a balloon party.

We had Dad's friend visit and they compared whose scar from open heart was longer. Dad was broken. Hero Nick worked with Dad in baby steps learning and gaining strength to swallow again. He worked with Dad to learn how to sit, stand, bed to chair, chair to hallway. Nick took the time to work with Dad after PT& OT had already worked with him. Who does this? He did not have to do that. This is what Dad needed, He needed a bit of personalized care, someone to think outside the box. Needless to say, Dad past his swallow evaluation and is home and is very independent. Dad would like to give a Big Salute to His Hero Nicolas Davenport.