Bryson Hodges, BSN, RN

There was a patient admitted to our unit with an acute spinal cord injury at 18 years old, which left the patient quadriplegic. This patient was supposed to graduate high school less than two weeks after admission. As the charge nurse and a mother of a high school student who was also graduating, I was heartbroken for this kid. As I was talking through options to help this patient, Bryson Hodges immediately volunteered to help in any way possible. He volunteered his time and his vehicle. We were working through an option to pick up this patient from rehab on a “day pass” and take him to his graduation, and without hesitation, Bryson offered to help. On his own, unpaid, and without question, Bryson was willing to help this kid and this family. He brainstormed ideas to make things happen. He was willing to move his schedule. When the patient’s condition and physician orders did not allow for in-person graduation, we had to work toward different plans.

Bryson was assigned to care for this patient, and the patient was going through some pretty severe depression. At this point, he had missed graduation. He had been in the hospital for three weeks, and he had not regained much motor function. Bryson’s ability to connect with the patient was amazing. He talked to him about depression and about moving forward and gave him a little tough love and highly encouraged him to get out of bed. Bryson took the patient all over the hospital to see different views and just spent time chatting with him. He gave that patient kindness and unrushed care. The patient asked him to go to “the highest view in the hospital,” and Bryson took him to 8 Park Tower to look out the window. The patient bonded so much with Bryson. He seemed like a true teenager during that shift and the shifts that followed. I was so thankful for the care and time that Bryson gave this patient and his family. He took that patient on several wheelchair rides during his shift, paying special consideration to this patient’s emotional well-being.

We struggled initially to find the right type of wheelchair for this patient since he was a new quadriplegic. He went through efforts to try different modes to allow mobility for the patient. Bryson found a cardiac chair at first, and he physically pushed this heavy cardiac chair throughout the whole hospital for the patient. He eventually found a reclining wheelchair from physical therapy and would lift this patient into the wheelchair whenever he wanted to mobilize. He positioned him frequently in his room in a chair to get the patient out of bed.

With the depression the patient was experiencing, the patient was initially resistive to getting out of bed and participating in anything. Bryson used therapeutic communication to bond with the patient and explain why it was so important to be active and not lie in bed. He provided amazing critical care when working with the physicians to stabilize the patient’s blood pressure so that he could get out of his room and get out of his bed. The patient experienced a lot of hypotension from spinal injury, and it took trial and error with medications to stabilize. His overall care included frequent education for the patient and his father, critical thinking for changing vital signs, physical care including positioning, feeding the patient, etc., and emotional care of the patient. His dad was especially thankful for the care Bryson provided. He went well beyond the basic care of a critical care patient. The time and attention he gave the teenager was special to watch.