Cristan
Jay
June 2010
Cristan
Jay
,
RN
Pedi ER
Homestead Hospital
Homestead
,
FL
United States

 

 

 

On the morning of Tuesday, April 6th, I received a phone call from the ED. I had a family member there and my presence was needed. As I searched through the ED, I could not find anyone I knew. After a few minutes of searching, I walked over to the pediatric ED area and saw my cousin crying in a corner. One of the nurses immediately recognized me and asked me to follow her into a meeting room where she broke the horrible news to me – my cousin’s 14 month old son had passed away. Over the next few hours, my family mourned this unexplained and unexpected passing of a young child. As my cousin sobbed next to his lifeless child, his 3 year old son Samuel was in another room unaware of what had occurred. In the midst of it all, there was a nurse who watched and cared for him. For approximately 3 hours, she sat with Sammy and lovingly watched over him, allowing my family to mourn the loss of the child. Every time I walked by the room or peeked in, the nurse had Sammy on her lap either watching cartoons or coloring with him. This nurse gave him snacks and entertained him and cared for him like he was her won child. This nurse never complained or asked for someone to relieve her. To this day, Sammy has little to no recollection of the terrible events of that day. That is due to the compassion, caring and motherly nature of this nurse.