Sandra Clarke showed a level of empathy and compassion to a 13-year-old boy that should be used as an example of what Aspirus stands for. Sandra was staffing as the house supervisor on a Saturday night. An outlying EMS rig was inbound with a significant trauma victim, and they were planning a rendezvous and hot-load on our helipad. The patient was never seen in our ER and was life-flighted to a Level II trauma center due to his injuries. A 13-year-old boy was left behind and was the grandson of the patient. He had just saved his grandfather's life in a logging accident, and although he held his emotions in very well, he was noticeably shaken.
He was from out of town and he was all alone as his only family member in this state had now just been airlifted to a different city. Sandra Clarke immediately turned her attention to this boy after learning about the situation. She offered him a safe place during an extremely chaotic and scary time for him. She greeted him with compassion, asking his name, and set him up in an ER room with TV and snacks, and did so with a calming demeanor. She asked permission to speak to his father. She offered to this child's father to give the child a ride to the facility his grandfather was taken to. The father graciously accepted Sandra's offer.
Sandra then went above and beyond her call of duty by getting in her own personal vehicle, and driving over an hour one way in the middle of the night to take this boy to another facility, so that he could be with his grandfather and father who was on his way up here. She even took the child to McDonald's on the way down and fed him supper. Sandra displayed a level of compassion and empathy second to none. She treated this child as I would hope someone would treat any of my own children in a situation like this. She faced this situation with a caring, "Let's get this done for this child, and done right" attitude. Sandra was willing to curb her own personal duties and needs in a millisecond to accommodate this boy.
In a time where the boy had nobody else, Sandra made sure he had someone. She stuck with him until the end and made a personal dedication to him in that he would be with his family as soon as humanly possible and that all his needs were met. Sandra never portrays the "that's not my job" mentality. Florence Nightingale once said, "If a nurse declines to do these kinds of things for her patient, 'because it is not her business', I should say that nursing was not her calling". Sandra-you have found your calling as a nurse. Thank you for all that you do! A.M.H.C. is proud of you!