April 2021
Hannah
Johnson
,
BSN, RN
DH 44 CVSD
UCI Health
Orange
,
CA
United States
Hannah is a gentle soul, and she possesses a calmness and sincerity about her that shines through in the care that she provides.
Every day that Hannah works In CVSU she demonstrates the values that embody an Extraordinary Nurse. She is a skilled nurse who is truly caring and compassionate for every patient she encounters. Recently Hannah cared for a young woman who was diagnosed with terminal cancer. She was weak, her hair was falling out, and she could only communicate with a few words. This patient's days were filled with constant neurological checks and people trying to coax her into eating so that she could gain her strength. On this particular day, I entered the patient's room to find her seated at the side of the bed with Hannah gently and unhurriedly shampooing her hair. The patient looked up, locked eyes with me, and smiled. In the weeks this patient had been in CVSU, this was the first genuine smile that I had seen from this patient. After some time had passed, Hannah returned to the nurses' station and I commented to her about how happy she had made the patient. She then told me that when she had finished the patient had turned to her and said, "Hannah I love you." Though the task of shampooing someone's hair may seem mundane, to this patient, it made her feel human. Hannah is a gentle soul, and she possesses a calmness and sincerity about her that shines through in the care that she provides. She can recognize that sometimes critical thinking isn't just about knowing when to spot a change in a patient's physical assessment, but to know when it's critical that a patient feel hope and compassion to be able to heal, or as in the case of this patient, have the will to make through another day.