A nurse for only a year, Monique truly has the heart and servitude of a nurse and has really inspired our unit to stop and examine what it truly means to provide holistic care for our patients.

A patient had been admitted to the hospital for 5 months and in our unit for 3 months. This patient is homeless and a paraplegic requiring a wheelchair, which is his only belonging. His wheelchair had a special cushion that had been discarded at the beginning of his stay. During his time in the hospital, he had consistently been upset about no longer having his cushion. Every time someone would enter his room, he would tell them the story about his wheelchair cushion. Monique frequently provided care for this patient and heard the story numerous times. She realized that this was affecting his care and healing process.
 

For Christmas, Monique bought him a new wheelchair cushion and presented it to him. To say he was excited is an understatement. This patient had not had any visitors during his stay and had not left his room because he was too upset about his wheelchair cushion. After Monique presented him with his new cushion, he hopped in his wheelchair and proceeded to wheel himself all over the unit. He was smiling and waving to everyone, acting like he had just won a million bucks! Monique then wheeled him down to the main lobby to see the beautiful Christmas trees and decorations.

Seeing the joy on this patient’s face after months of being down was the best Christmas gift that could have been given this season. Monique is very quiet and often does not like attention. She was discretely giving this patient a gift out of the kindness of her heart, not to seek recognition. However, the patient couldn’t contain his excitement, and now he tells everyone who enters his room a new story. Monique’s actions really inspired the staff to remember the reason we all became nurses.