During Jen’s nurse leader rounding on a patient who had an extended hospital stay, he mentioned with teary eyes, how much he missed his dog Gracie and asked if his neighbor could bring her for a visit. Jen explained the 'rules' for fur baby visitation and with excitement in his voice, he agreed to the stipulations. The weekend came and went but no Gracie. He was getting better and was hopeful to go home the next day or two so would be able to see her soon. However, with the next set of lab results, the plan changed again. Jen could see he was feeling very defeated and depressed, so she recruited some of her wonderful team members to help plan a special surprise. One coworker was able to find out which kennel Gracie was at so Jen called the kennel, who wanted to make this visit happen as much as we did, to arrange for pick-up. Jen was able to get the ‘next of kin’ to provide authorization to release Gracie for a visit. Jen also knew Ashley RN was working a half shift that day and would be eager to help. Ashley knew how much this would mean to the patient and was able to pick-up Gracie for her surprise visit on her way to work. When Ashley brought Gracie around the corner, our patient lit up! He was so happy to see her!!

We also learned that Gracie was his wife's dog. She has passed, so Gracie is the only family he really has.