I was at Salem Regional Hospital with my father.  He had to have surgery again.  It has been a particularly trying year and a half for him.  At 85 years old, he has had three surgeries, a procedure where they had to put him under, a severe allergic reaction to another hospital’s sheets, and COVID that nearly killed him.  I could tell he was nervous and missed my mother, as she was always the last one that he saw before they took him back to the operating room.  She is no longer with us.  

After he came back from surgery, he began talking to Nurse Calli about my mother and the life they had together for nearly 60 years.  From their early years of married life in the military to the end of their life together.  They laughed when they discovered he was a Marine and Calli was Air Force.  She listened to every word, only excusing herself from time to time to check on other patients.  After she escorted us to the car, my father turned to me with tears in his eyes and said, “It’s so nice to talk to someone who cares.”  

It meant more to him than you could imagine to not be just another patient.  His memory is not what it was, but I am certain that he will remember Calli always, as will I!!  Thank you Calli!  Thank you so much!!