WINNIPEG FREE PRESS - SATURDAY, MAY 9, 2015 7
NURSES: WITH YOU EVERY STEP OF THE WAY
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NURSING MOMENTS
HOLIDAY CHEER In hemodialysis, patients are often seen as family. We see them a minimum of three times a week for four hours. The nurses get to know their patients and their families on a personal level. This is reflected in the unit on a day-to-day basis when you see the patients and staff laughing together and sharing information beyond patient care. Many patients have stated that it is the staff that makes being here bearable. Each Christmas, the nurses on our unit identify patients who are in need and make up hampers for them and for their families. The abundance of food and gifts that is freely brought in puts all of us (including the recipients) in the holiday spirit! Belinda Herner RN, BN, CNephC ProgramTeam Manager Hemodialysis St. Boniface Hospital AMAZING GRACE We were finishing a procedure one afternoon when a patient was explaining how his daughter was finding it difficult as a new nurse to bond with a patient, and then have things turn out badly for that person. I explained how funny it is that, over the years, I’ve come to be more accepting of death and the role I can play. I don’t see it as the ultimate “bad.” There is a time for death. It can even be good. Now, I’m not talking about hastening death – not at all – I’m talking about life completed. I explained that dying is so intimate; that at that time of life is when nurses can do so much good. We nurses are privileged and sometimes burdened with being in such an intimate place. We are holding hands, giving sedation, and turning patients to promote a comfortable position. We send all our compassion in warm hands and back rubs – not to promote life, but to allow for a peaceful completion of a life.
Belinda Herner and the HemodialysisTeam.
I was working in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit with an amazing, highly experienced nurse. I had been a nurse for about 12 years at that point, and had worked in the ICU for the past six. On this day, we had an elderly woman who was conscious and intubated, communicating with pen and paper. She understood that she was dying. There were comfort measures only; all heroics had been exhausted. The nurse I was working with gave her patient the most peace-filled surroundings by the window with a lot of natural daylight. The way that nurse cared for her patient had me in tears most of the night. There may have been some soft singing or humming from that nurse too. I can’t remember another time when I witnessed such compassion, and I don’t expect to. The
nurse just calmly did everything in her power to prevent air hunger, aches and pains and fear. Gentle caring and supreme grace are the words I could use. I felt like I had witnessed and been a small part of a miracle. This nurse’s care did not make the patient live longer, but permitted a peaceful closure to a life well lived. I see that nurse every now and then. I’ve been lucky enough to be able to tell her what an impact that night had on me. I believe she broke off a little bit of her grace and implanted it in me. I am honoured to be granted access to these most intimate times in my patients’ lives … all because I’m their nurse. Theresa, RN
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