May 2024
Carolyn
Clark
,
RN
MSICU
Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center
Hartford
,
CT
United States
Our daughter asked her some very direct questions, which she answered honestly and gracefully, as the news she was giving to our daughter was not good.
On the first full day my husband was in MSICU he had Carolyn as his nurse. She made a point to sit and speak with me and offer kind words and words of wisdom; she even asked us what he liked to be called. Later that day, when one of our daughters came up to see him for the first time, Carolyn took time out of her already busy day to come into the waiting room and explain to our daughter exactly what she was going to see. Our daughter asked her some very direct questions, which she answered honestly and gracefully, as the news she was giving to our daughter was not good. When we went back into S’s room, Carolyn took time to explain to her what every tube wire and medication was. On our daughter’s subsequent visit, I gave her some time alone with her dad. Carolyn, even though she wasn’t his nurse that day, stopped in and checked on her to make sure she was ok. On Carolyn’s way out she spotted my mother struggling to make it to the room, she went out of her way to speak to the charge nurse and make sure we got a wheelchair on the way out. Carolyn made our first few days here in MSICU bearable and really helped us understand what we are and what we would be facing. She has hugged me in the halls when she has seen me and has stopped in his room to check on us. Without Carolyn we would have felt even more helpless than we already did.