December 2023
Kimberly
Fleming
,
BSN, RN
7 Neumann Surgical Specialties
Sparrow Hospital
Lansing
,
MI
United States
I will never forget the help she gave us.
I had to bring mom the ER and she was ltimately admitted to the hospital with a bowel obstruction. All of the nurses were wonderful, but Kimmy really stood out. My mom is 84 years old and has dementia. She was so confused and didn't know why she was there; it was hard to watch. The first night with Kimmy was when they had released the bowel obstruction and mom had horrible diarrhea, and she was treated by all of the staff with such kindness and dignity, especially Kimmy, However, the reason I am turning in this nomination ls that the night before she was released to go home my mother had a bad night she was extremely agitated and yelling at me in the room because she thought she was in a movie theater and that I was refusing to take her to her bedroom "upstairs" because she was so tired. It was bad and no matter how patiently I told her-this is your room and your bed, you are in a hospital she was furious. She was a fall risk and kept trying to get up. I asked Kimmy for help. The doctor came in and my mom pretended she was fine and the minute he left she started yelling at me again. Kimmy asked me if I thought It would help If they moved her to another room and I told her anything was worth a try. She got another room ready and came in and told my mom they were going to take her to 'her room". Once she did mom quieted down and we were able to take her for a walk and she was completely happy. As my mom's dementia has gotten worse - I have witnessed people discard her, ignore her and act like she isn't a worthwhile person. Kimmy was so kind and treated my mom with respect- she talked directly to her and there was no judgement, only help, when my mom and I both needed It. The four day hospital visit was really hard on my mom and equally hard on me. Of course my mom doesn't remember any of it but as my mom's caretaker, I will never forget the help she gave us.