Joseph Fiorentino
November 2015
Joseph
Fiorentino
,
RN, CPN
The Children's Center
Trinity Mother Frances Hospital and Clinics
Tyler
,
TX
United States

 

 

 

Trinity Mother Frances Hospital is very blessed to have Jo as a nurse. He is a very loving pediatric nurse. God has put him in just the right place. Jo has touched my life 2 very important times. The first was with my son, D, who was terminally ill. Our one and only Christmas we had with our son, was spent right here at TMFHS on the Pediatric floor. Jo would come in and check on us all night. Asking what was wrong with him and then taking the time to actually listen to the answer.
Jo showed such compassion to us. Having Jo there that Christmas helped in making it not as hard. His kindness and warmth radiated through everything he did with our son. He still wears a D's Dream bracelet on his badge after so many years.
This last time was with my 4 year old daughter, O. She came in Thursday July 30 close to shift change. I will tell you all the nurses made her feel like a princess. We walked into her room where they had put a special blanket on her bed and had a Periwinkle doll waiting, which I learned is Tinkerbelle's sister. The wonderful day shift crew took time to make sure that she was comfortable and that she didn't need anything (and I mean anything), before they went to report off to the next shift.

Jo walked in and immediately my little O started giving him goo goo eyes. I knew right then that this was going to be a good match. You have to understand that O is extremely shy when she doesn't know you. Jo went right to work getting her IV started with the help of Sonia. He got with no problem even though she was so severely dehydrated. He initiated all the new orders, drawing labs and getting her fluids going. Somehow, bless his heart, he got stuck with us 4 nights in a row. Each night he would do something to make O smile. A few nights he threatened to take her drink if she didn't drink it to encourage her to increase her fluids. It worked. He would just randomly pop his head in to check on her and she would gleam ear to ear, because I think in O's eyes she was his only patient. The last night we were there O was beginning to feel much better. Her labs were improving, because Jo put his tongue to the right. As Olivia and I were walking to the movies close to the nurses station, Jo stopped me and pulled a small bottle out of his pocket and said can we do this???? I smiled and said sure. About an hour later, here comes Jo in with fingernail polish. He sat down and took the time to paint my little girl's nails and to dry them with the blow dryer. I don't think O's feet were touching the floor, because she was on cloud 9. I will tell you not many people would do that. This is going above and beyond the call of duty. It's been a week and I still can't take that polish off because Mr. Jo painted them. I don't think O will forget Mr. Jo anytime soon and neither will I.
Thank you for helping me get my baby back to her old self.