I am a 15-year-old patient on the 6th floor of the Behavior Health Unit at Hasbro. I have Functional Neurological Disorder (FND), which is a disconnect between the brain and the body. I have been a patient here at Hasbro for almost ten months. When I was admitted, I had no feeling/movement from the neck down and was having non-epileptic seizures 10-15 times a day. With hard work, I have made huge progress, and I still have a lot more work to do before I am discharged. Steve has been such an important person in my journey. From the moment I was admitted, he was welcoming. His presence instantly made the unit feel less intimidating and more “homey’. Every day, he comes in with an energetic, bubbly mood that instantly lifts people up.
 
Every time Steve walks into a room, the patients are instantly drawn to him by his laugh, his personality, and his smile. Now onto the CARE principles:

Compassion= Steve is always my shoulder to cry on and my listening buddy. He hears all my rants. Which, unfortunately, is every day because something always makes me mad. No matter how many times he has heard the same rant over and over, he never rushes me venting, even if I am not one of the patients he is assigned to that day. He never invalidates how I am feeling. He shows everlasting patience. He sits on the cold, hard, dirty floor with me for hours if that is what it takes. Due to my condition, I am unable to move my hands so he has even had to wipe my tears for me. I always feel better after talking to him. A lot of times, the reason I am upset is because I am refusing my treatment with OT, PT, or speech. It is something I really struggle with, and somehow, he gets me to change my mind and do the treatment. Even the biggest, scariest, dreadful things in treatment I can do when Steve is by my side. 

Accountable= One of the biggest symptoms of my FND was that I would have non epileptic seizures frequently every day. I had a Ziploc bag with smelling salt in it that I would breathe, which would “wake me up” out of the seizure. As a part of my treatment plan my doctors wanted me to stop using the bag but I refused to do that. We got to the point that once the bag ripped, I would not get a new one. One day, Steve and I had a conversation about the bag. When other staff brought it up, I would get very angry, but somehow, it felt safe enough to talk to him about it. It has been the most pivotal important day in my treatment so far. I finally decided to give up the bag. Steve knew almost 2 weeks before I told any of my doctors or family. He was a healthy, secure source of confidentiality. I wrote a goodbye letter for the bag to give to my doctor. Steve sat on my floor, listened to me, and read that 12-page letter multiple times. He helped me adjust some things but mostly just listened. He gave me a pep talk the morning I stopped using it.

My doctors were so surprised and shocked that I made this decision by myself, but I give credit to Steve for helping me. I know he was very proud of me, and I wouldn’t have been able to do it without him. He is the best nurse that I have had in taking care of my G-tube. He is able to hook up my feeds, give meds, and flushes effortlessly. It calms my anxiety about my tube, and when he is there, it will all be taken care of.
 
Respect= Steve always advocates for his patients in rounds and makes sure I get what I need. On the BHU, my parents can only visit from 6-8 pm, so my doctors are not here when they come. Steve always gives them a run down of my day which my parents really appreciate. There are 16 patients on our floor and Steve always is available to help everyone. He treats everyone with the same respect from doctors, family members, patients, and housekeeping. 

Excellence= Steve goes above and beyond and makes all of his patients feel special. He gives all the patients fist bumps. I am unable to move my arms/hands right now due to the FND. He didn’t want me to feel left out so he adapted it for me. I do it with my forehead instead of my hands. It makes me feel less different. Every day he works he comes to my door to say good morning and goodbye when he leaves. Even if he is not assigned to be my nurse that day. For many months I required assistance to get out of bed and while helping me we did a little dance to “shake out the bad vibes”. It sounds silly but it worked, and it is fun to wake up to. He comes up with little things to help each individual patient. I struggle with eating food, so one day, he fed me acting like it was an airplane. He is a great teacher to all the nursing students who come in to learn on our unit. 

Finally, my favorite routine with Steve is our dance. I get to spin him around, and it is good practice for me to move my arms. I do this anytime I see him….in the hallway when I am having a good day, a bad day, in the middle of treatment, at mealtime, or even when I am in a crisis. He even makes time for it after a 16-hour shift. He will do anything for his patients to make us smile. He even did the hokey pokey to get a laugh out of me on one of my hardest days. Without Steve, I would have given up on my treatment a long time ago. He has kept going and is very deserving of this award.