May 2021
Anne
Bowman
,
BSN, RN
Stroke
Inova Fairfax Medical Campus
Falls Church
,
VA
United States
Annie checked on him frequently and took great responsibility for his care. She got to know our grandson via our Facetime visits with him, and again – that human touch meant so much to P.
My husband was hospitalized early in January, due to a large hematoma in his residual (amputated) limb and a subsequent stroke. Interestingly, he had an earlier stay on the stoke floor in November, and Annie was one of his nurses then too. He had many wonderful nurses while on that floor, but Annie stands out. A few examples: She took extra steps to contact physicians on our behalf when there was any lack of clarity regarding instructions. Through no fault of any of the fine doctors who assisted P, his complicated chronic and rare clotting disorder often involved multiple specialists, hospitalists, and nurse practitioners. Annie made sure any questions we had about continuity of care were tracked down and thoroughly answered. Nurses on that floor were generally very responsive, and much appreciated. However, Annie often took one more step to help us understand what was happening – or what would happen. Given P’s status as an upper extremity amputee, along with his amputated leg, Annie understood his human needs without us having to outline what was required. By “human needs” I am referring to those things that are not strictly medical but involve the patient’s quality of life while in the hospital. Things like making sure that at mealtime he had items opened for him that he otherwise could not open, making sure he was positioned in the bed in a way possible for meals and for comfort, listening carefully to his concerns and pursuing answers whenever possible, and so much more. In addition, her kindness to me, his family, was evident. She checked on him frequently and took great responsibility for his care. She got to know our grandson via our Facetime visits with him, and again – that human touch meant so much to P. It is scary and hard to be hospitalized and be helpless due to illness, and Annie was a huge part of his recovery. She wanted the best for him and that was obvious to us as well as inspirational.