Winding up in the hospital at any age would give anyone a moment of pause.  But when the elderly find themselves in those serious straits, it often triggers distressing bouts of reflection about an unchangeable past, a troubling present, and an uncertain future.  It may not be therapeutic, but it's practically unavoidable.  There is, however, another category of patient, and they are, quite literally, exceptional to this rule.  When faced with life's most consequential moments, they stop and smell the roses.  They celebrate the time that they've been given and the life they've led.  But given the circumstances they find themselves in, it's likely they need a little help celebrating.  And that's where our most recent DAISY Award recipients come into the story, Ewelina Chrapczynski, R.N., and Meghan McCoy, R.N.

Not too long ago, a female patient and her husband intended to renew their wedding vows as they marked their 60th anniversary, but their plan was derailed by her unexpected admission to our Cardiac Telemetry Unit for an extended stay.  Meghan and Ewelina learned of this disappointment, and undeterred by the patient's bedbound status, they went all-out to help the couple celebrate this once-in-a-lifetime occasion.  They decorated the patient's room with ribbons, flowers, and streamers - and with a little ingenuity, they transformed the patient's bed into something resembling a bridal bower.  They even enlisted our Fr. Domingo to make the business official.  When all was said and done, the patient's entire family assembled to share the couple's joy in their lifetime together.  There wasn't a dry eye in the unit.

To quote from their DAISY nomination, "These two live by the true meaning of nursing, caring for each patient physically, emotionally, and spiritually."  It occurs to us that while Ewelina and Meghan helped the couple to renew their vows, they also fulfilled our Nightingale Pledge - to devote our lives to service and the highest ideals of nursing.

Or perhaps they'd taken the familiar words of poet Robert Frost to heart - "We all have promises to keep and miles to go before we sleep."