I am a co-worker at Mercy. My Sister's wife was admitted to the cardiac neuro floor. She was diagnosed with kidney failure and congestive heart failure. Stephanie made the biggest impact on our family! In the early morning hours, our family member's health took a huge decline which ultimately resulted in the family deciding to withdraw hopes to let her pass away peacefully and pain-free. This is where our nurse's compassion and EXCEPTIONAL service come in. During shift change, Stephanie came into our room and told my sister that although she would not be our nurse that evening, if there was anything my sister needed, to just let her know and she would do everything she could to help. Well, it turned out that Stephanie was our nurse for the night and we are so thankful and blessed.
Each time she came into the room to check on the patient, she would immediately scan the room and find my sister and the patient's daughter (there was always about 30 family members in the room) and ask if there was anything she could do for them, how they were doing and asked how we thought our patient was doing. She would ask if there was anything she could do to help us. Then before she would leave the room she would look each family member in the eye and ask them if there was anything she could do for them specifically. She did this every single time she came into the room.
Because of the events that happened my sister and the patient's daughter had been awake for over 24 hours and it showed! Due to the number of people in the room, there was nowhere for them to sleep and at one point the patient's daughter had curled up in a ball and laid down in the floor next to her mother's bed. Shortly after she laid down, Stephanie came in the room with pillows and blankets and made a bed on the floor for the patient's daughter to sleep on.
Sometime close to midnight, Stephanie let us know that our loved one had passed away. She asked what she could do for us. She told us that we could take all the time we needed. She told us she would be right outside the door if we needed anything.
Finally, at around 1:30 am my sister decided to leave the hospital, but I stayed behind and when the time came for me to leave, Stephanie asked me to keep her informed as to how my sister and the family were doing in the upcoming days.
She expressed her sympathy and told me she would be thinking of us. When I returned to work, Stephanie came by my office before leaving work to check on my family. She said she had been thinking about them for the last few days and just wanted to make sure they were doing well. She again asked if there was anything she could do for us and told me to let my sister know she was thinking of them. Before leaving my office, she hugged me and again asked me to keep her informed on how they were doing in the days ahead and to let her know if there is anything she can do.
I have been with family members at the hospital in the past and from a personal standpoint, I have never observed a nurse with such compassion and true concern for her patient and their family members. It was a true blessing, and comfort to have Stephanie as our nurse.