While I am not a family member or a patient who has been blessed with Ryan’s compassionate care, I will discuss a couple of the many occasions that I have witnessed and been a part of with Ryan. This letter would be a novel if I had to list them all. We (PICC team) normally use PCIU rooms (Ryan’s home unit) for outpatient PICC insertions. I was using a wheelchair to transport a very weak, paraplegic patient into one of the rooms. Ryan saw that I had my hands full. Without hesitation, he ran towards us from his break to lend a helping hand with opening doors and getting the patient into the room.

A Hoyer lift was requested by the patient, but due to the small room and stretcher, the lift would have been much harder to transfer the patient from the wheelchair to the stretcher. Ryan gathered all the necessary equipment and items to transfer the patient to the stretcher safely and made sure the patient was completely comfortable before he left me to perform the PICC line insertion. As soon as we were through with the procedure, I opened the door and Ryan anticipated and immediately assisted with getting the patient back to her wheelchair to go home.

While one may say the act was not extraordinary, I would like to emphasize how Ryan made me feel, and more importantly, how the patient and family member feel. I was working by myself and was trying to figure out how to safely transfer the patient; the patient was also worried about the small room with all the equipment. But when Ryan was in the room, we were all laughs and giggles. We had fun transferring the patient with his goofy jokes along the way, making the patient and everyone in the room feel like a big family or the best of friends. The act was not superhuman, but his compassion and eagerness for him to help others made him our superhero. In a time when nurse burnout and societal changes seem to be at their worst, Ryan made us feel like family, like great friends, and like great neighbors again.

Another excellent example I encountered with Ryan while placing a PICC line for an outpatient in PCIU was with a young, pregnant patient. The patient had trouble breathing due to having to lie flat on her back for a period of time due to a difficult PICC placement, and the patient felt very dizzy. While knowing that the patient shouldn’t be on her back for prolonged periods of time, it was unavoidable at the time of the PICC insertion. When the patient became symptomatic (unexpectedly), I called out for help immediately. Ryan literally busted open the door and asked what was wrong. He quickly assessed the situation and assisted the patient to lie on her side while maintaining our sterile field. He helped with facilitating the necessary staff and physicians to make sure the patient was okay while I completed the PICC insertion. He assisted in checking up on the patient to make sure she was doing better. He took care of the patient like he was the primary nurse for the patient and as if she were the only person on the unit.

I felt like he was always available with a helping hand or two at any encounter with him as a coworker. The patient felt much better after some water and snacks that Ryan offered her, and she was very thankful for all the staff that helped her out during this unexpected event. These examples are just the ones written. There are countless, heartwarming, altruistic acts in his everyday encounters. While we all hope to never have to be a patient, the reality and truth are most of us will be or have been a patient in the hospital. I pray that if I or a loved one ever become a patient that someone like Ryan would be there to show me what it truly means to be a good human, to be truly present, to be trustworthy, and to be the best example a caretaker can be. I truly believe if we have a few more Ryans in this world, we would be better, do better, and above all, see better in one another.

In the meantime, I thank God for the blessings I get to learn from Ryan as a role model and as a truly amazing coworker. I hope he is recognized at the highest level possible for his consistent, hardworking, genuine, positive attitude. We are truly blessed to have him as a team member at MMMC. Thank you all for allowing me to share my views with a coworker. Have a great day and God Bless.