Kwame Appiah
March 2018
Kwame
Appiah
,
RN
Behavioral Health
Riverside University Health System - Medical Center
Moreno Valley
,
CA
United States

 

 

 

Kwame is a very kind and giving human being. I first met him at ETS when I had attempted to take my life for the second time in four months. I was on a 5150 hold and the place was extremely scary to me as I've never been in jail or anything close to it. I stayed in that part of the hospital for 4 days and saw Kwame on and off while I was waiting to be admitted to the main in-patient treatment. He would bring me extra blankets because I was always freezing. When I finally got to Unit C on day 4 of my stay, they told me Kwame would be my night nurse. When he greeted me he said, "hello" with the biggest smile and asked, "do you remember me?" I was so thankful to see him! Later that evening he had to ask me some questions about my mental state. My husband has a terminal illness and does not have much time left to live. I worry about being a widow at 35 years old every second it seems, which is why I try to take my life. Kwame asked me, "do you have any faith to give you hope?" I told him not anymore. Since my husband has been diagnosed I gave up any faith I had as I saw it totally unfair that this had happened to my family. He told me, "you need to find your faith again. Hope is all we have sometimes to get us through, and without it, we have no anchor and without an anchor, your boat will float away". Something inside my broken brain just clicked, that I need to find my anchor again so that I can have some hope. All evening Kwame made sure my first night in Unit C was comfortable with blankets, snacks, the medications I needed and just talking to me about my anxious thoughts. Thank you, Kwame