Jehri Buss
August 2023
Jehri
Buss
,
RN
Cardio Thoracic ICU
HCA Florida Largo Hospital
Largo
,
FL
United States

 

 

 

" Each day I would say to my mother how lucky we were to have Jehri assigned to my dad. She was nothing but kind, caring, professional and competent."
During my father’s ongoing hospital stay, all of the nurses we encountered have been wonderful, but Jehri took it to another level. As with many ICU patients, my father’s medical situation is complex. He only has one kidney, suffers from AFIB, and is in the midst of chemotherapy treatments, then along comes a large blood clot in his left atrium and the need for a triple bypass.

To our family’s delight, Jehri was my father’s nurse for three days in a row following his heart surgery. My dad was pretty much comatose throughout those shifts although he would wince and recoil when anyone would get close. Let’s just say at this point in his almost 77 years, he was tired of being poked and prodded.

While lost in a prolonged anesthetic fog, he still managed to be difficult, but Jehri was unphased by this challenge and still provided the utmost care to make him comfortable and monitor his volatile heart. She could have simply come into the room every hour to check his numbers but instead, to reassure him, she took the time to kindly talk to him and tell him what she was going to do before she did it.

What was most touching was she would rub and warmly squeeze his shoulder and arm to show that she cared with each interaction. As my mother and I sat in my father’s room daily, Jehri not only made sure we were physically comfortable, she made us feel emotionally comfortable, confident about the quality of the medical team, that my dad’s condition was improving and that he wasn’t suffering and wouldn’t remember a thing from those first few days after surgery.

She was fun to talk to and fantastic about answering my many questions about medicines, what the various machines were doing, and telling us what to expect. When my dad had a setback overnight, she took the time to explain the situation when we arrived the next morning. Each day I would say to my mother how lucky we were to have Jehri assigned to my dad. She was nothing but kind, caring, professional and competent.

On day three of Jehri’s care, my father’s CRRT machine wasn’t working properly. She tried to deal with it herself to no avail, so she brought in other nurses for advice and assistance. There were no other machines available. The CRRT machine was a necessity for my dad; 's needs, and Jehri’s persistence to get the machine back to working order resulted in finding another colleague who worked with her to fix it! Yet again, we were so happy Jehri was my father’s nurse.

After our three days together, Jehri had a day off and returned to the ICU but was not assigned to my father. She was working in the room next door but throughout the day, she was sure to stop by to check on my mom and me and cheer on my father. At the end of that day, knowing she would have three days off, I asked if I could hug her. Jehri’s genuine compassion will not be forgotten.