I have worked with Lynn for many years, she always goes above and beyond for her patients. She's a wonderful team player as well. One particular night though her actions touched my heart so much that I would like to share my story with you. I give you a little background of our unit: we work with patients that have had CVA's, traumatic brain injuries, intracranial hemorrhages, seizures, altered mental status, changes, etc. We also have laminectomy patients occasionally. At no time were we ever a hospice unit. We have had no training in end of life care.
One night we had a terminal patient that had been admitted a few days before, that was hours away from passing away. Several family members were present. Lynn had a full patient load that night. Although she was busy, she stopped whatever she was doing to help support the patient and family any way she could. She literally spent hours with them. Lynn's caring and compassion with the patient was so beautiful it prompted me to write you this in the hopes she could get the DAISY Award. Lynn made sure the patient was made as comfortable as possible. She even had respiratory come and place a non-rebreather to help him be more comfortable. Not everyone would take the time to do this since the patient was having agonal breathing and it is part of the dying process. The fact to me, that Lynn did this shows that she has a beautiful heart and wanted her patient to be as comfortable and peaceful as he could be. She was so attentive, she cared for him like he was a family member. She remained with them all, until the very end.