January 2015
Cassie
Youngerman
,
BSN, RN
Emergency Department
Kettering Medical Center
Kettering
,
OH
United States

 

 

 

There was a fourteen year old autistic patient who was held in our ER for 70+ hours. One of our nurses, Jackie had the idea to bring a fire truck in for this patient because he kept talking about fire trucks one day while in the ED. Jackie asked Cassie if she could contact her husband (Matt) who works for Kettering Fire Department to see if he would bring in a fire truck for this patient to see. Cassie arranged for her husband to bring in the fire truck that day because he was already at the fire department. Matt then showed up with a few of Kettering's firefighters and one of their five trucks. The patient got to sit in the truck and got to also wear a fireman coat and hat. The patient was absolutely thrilled and could not stop talking about the experience.