Matthew Oliver
May 2026
Matthew
Oliver
,
RN
Nursing Administration
HSHS St. Mary's Hospital
Decatur
,
IL
United States
He was patient, kind, and informative. That meant the absolute world to my daughter and me.
I really, really hope that the right person reads this and understands how much Matt went above and beyond for my daughter.
My 19-year-old daughter struggles with disordered eating. She also has OCD and a needle phobia. She needed to have a myriad of blood tests to help us understand her nutritional levels. Let’s just say that for a while, we were convinced she was the only veinless person in the world.
Matt came with his vein ultrasound machine to the lab on Friday and worked so hard to find a usable vein. His house supervisor's phone was ringing incessantly, but he was completely focused on my girl.
He talked us through what he could see on the machine and tried so very hard to collect the blood. I’m sure it’s not every day that he has to help calm a sobbing, terrified 19-year-old, but he handled it like a champ. Sadly, after around 2 hours in the lab, we still couldn’t get the blood we needed.
He asked us to come back on Saturday and gave us tips to hopefully help. He told us to hydrate, get her warm, and he took time to explain the worst-case scenario (getting it from an artery) and made sure we knew that he would help us figure it out. He told us to come back anytime during his 12-hour shift, and he would meet us in the lab.
When we arrived, the phlebotomist on duty called him. He had her warm up my daughter’s arms with infant heel warmers, and he came very quickly. He told us that earlier in the day, he had alerted co-workers that he had a patient returning and that he would be focused on her while she was there. Amazingly, the house supervisor's phone stayed silent.
He tried so hard to only stick her once and to help me keep her calm during the whole process. He made sure she understood everything he was doing. Unfortunately, vein number one didn’t cooperate, and my daughter was getting discouraged. He moved to her other side and found a wonderful vein on his little machine, and finally, we had blood!
Later, my daughter said that when Matt told her he was successful, she felt all of her tension disappear. I understand that from the outside, my daughter looks like a normal college student, and he could have gotten frustrated or annoyed by her tears and needing to be held by her mom, but he didn’t.
He was patient, kind, and informative. That meant the absolute world to my daughter and me. He even made sure that we had information to give to any future medical professional who needs to draw her blood so it would be less traumatic.
My 19-year-old daughter struggles with disordered eating. She also has OCD and a needle phobia. She needed to have a myriad of blood tests to help us understand her nutritional levels. Let’s just say that for a while, we were convinced she was the only veinless person in the world.
Matt came with his vein ultrasound machine to the lab on Friday and worked so hard to find a usable vein. His house supervisor's phone was ringing incessantly, but he was completely focused on my girl.
He talked us through what he could see on the machine and tried so very hard to collect the blood. I’m sure it’s not every day that he has to help calm a sobbing, terrified 19-year-old, but he handled it like a champ. Sadly, after around 2 hours in the lab, we still couldn’t get the blood we needed.
He asked us to come back on Saturday and gave us tips to hopefully help. He told us to hydrate, get her warm, and he took time to explain the worst-case scenario (getting it from an artery) and made sure we knew that he would help us figure it out. He told us to come back anytime during his 12-hour shift, and he would meet us in the lab.
When we arrived, the phlebotomist on duty called him. He had her warm up my daughter’s arms with infant heel warmers, and he came very quickly. He told us that earlier in the day, he had alerted co-workers that he had a patient returning and that he would be focused on her while she was there. Amazingly, the house supervisor's phone stayed silent.
He tried so hard to only stick her once and to help me keep her calm during the whole process. He made sure she understood everything he was doing. Unfortunately, vein number one didn’t cooperate, and my daughter was getting discouraged. He moved to her other side and found a wonderful vein on his little machine, and finally, we had blood!
Later, my daughter said that when Matt told her he was successful, she felt all of her tension disappear. I understand that from the outside, my daughter looks like a normal college student, and he could have gotten frustrated or annoyed by her tears and needing to be held by her mom, but he didn’t.
He was patient, kind, and informative. That meant the absolute world to my daughter and me. He even made sure that we had information to give to any future medical professional who needs to draw her blood so it would be less traumatic.