Zoleaka Bell is an RN on the 4th floor who has greatly inspired me personally and our staff at The Wellness Center. Zoleaka Bell brought a young man into the gym to exercise this week that is in great need of our services. Tommy is an 18 year old who is morbidly obese and suffers from several health problems that are secondary to his weight. Zoleaka cares for Tommy during the week when she is not working at SFH and thought that it would be a good idea to bring him to The Wellness Center to exercise. Not only does she bring him to the gym, but she has also added him to her “family” membership. She pays for this out of her payroll deduction. Zoleaka also took things one step further to include the other nurse who cares for Tommy on her membership plan. She wanted to be sure that the other nurse who is with him will have some incentive to bring Tommy in to do his exercise. Now she can exercise too. When I was talking to Zoleaka about this she just said that she really wants to help Tommy because he is her patient and she cares about him. Tommy needs to lose at least 150 pounds in order to be able to have his tracheotomy removed. He has been removed from school because of his health and his main goal is to lose the weight so he can get back into school and lead a more normal lifestyle.

This is one of the main reasons I love my job. I cannot wait to be able to help Tommy with his exercise program and see him progress to meet his goals. I believe that Zoleaka is playing a huge role in changing Tommy’s life. Not only will this help him to lose weight and return to school, but it will help Tommy to live a longer and more fulfilled quality of life. Zoleaka is an exceptional nurse who is demonstrating what it means to be compassionate and really WOW not only her patients, but her fellow co-workers. I am inspired.