April 2017
Janet
DeSantis
,
RN
Cancer Unit
Sparrow Hospital
Lansing
,
MI
United States

 

 

 

We had a very young patient from India that was diagnosed with Leukemia. The patient had recently married and moved to the United States with her husband. Upon being notified of her diagnosis, her parents obtained Visas to come to the United States.
When the patient began to lose her hair, Janet used her skills as a stylist to trim her hair. When it was time to shave her head, Janet stayed one night to shave her, and she wasn't even her patient.
When she walked out of the room, Janet saw the patient's mother sitting and crying. The language barrier prevented them from communicating, but Janet sat and held the patient's mother until she stopped crying.
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The quality of care Janet provides to each patient is unbelievable, especially our cancer patients. The appropriate humor she uses to help her patients get through their chemo battles and forget about life for a while truly is incredible, specifically, a young cancer patient that has had such a rough go on our floor for over a year now. The family struggles financially and Janet is always giving back to them and always going to get the patient gifts and activities to keep him busy. Janet even got him started on a hobby that really helps his occupational therapy struggles. Whenever the patient is back for a round of chemo, he looks for Janet to be his nurse. Janet was born to be a nurse!
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Janet, on several occasions, has gone above and beyond for a younger cancer patient. This patient builds models and has figurines he works on to pass the time during treatment. She makes sure he has all of the supplies that he needs to keep up on his craft. On one occasion, she took a collection to get one important item for his hobby. After her shift, she went and bought the item and came back to present the item to the patient with the night shift because she sated "night shift doesn't get a lot of these opportunities". Janet is a team player who goes above and beyond for her co-workers and especially her patients. She is a very compassionate, caring nurse!