I would like to share a story about a nurse who took RESPONSIBILITY to help another person.
The Drive
An ICU nurse came to work one day and saw an elderly woman sitting alone and crying. She learned that this woman had been on a bus trip for senior citizens bound for Branson, Missouri, with her husband of 50 years. They stopped in Valparaiso to have dinner when her husband had a heart attack. Despite the efforts of the ICU staff, he passed away.
She was still in the ICU because she had nowhere else to go. The hospital was making arrangements to get her back to Ohio on a bus, because the seniors' trip had gone on without her the previous night.
After learning this, the nurse immediately told her supervisor that she needed emergency time off. Then she introduced herself to the woman and asked if she would like a ride to Ohio. She called her husband and asked him for directions, because she had never been to Ohio.
On the drive the nurse kept the woman's mind off her husband's death by chatting with her bout their families, careers, and lives. The time flew by for both women. The nurse was surprised when she received thank you cards from the woman and her loved ones. The nurse had only been doing what she would like someone to do if her mother went through something like this.
- Submitted by Donna McHenry, Porter Hospital, Valparaiso, IN
What's Right in Healthcare: Compiled by Studer Group
Thank you,
Karen Shammas, CEO
