Teresa Smalley
August 2019
Teresa
Smalley
,
RN
ICU
Northport Medical Center
Tuscaloosa
,
AL
United States

 

 

 

Teresa's compassion and care during the unexpected loss of our mother was truly extraordinary. Our mother was a patient of the ICU for about 2 days. Our mother had been suffering from a serious lung condition which led to anxiety as she struggled to breathe. It was hard for us to leave her for the evening as we knew her condition had worsened and were concerned she would have an anxiety attack upon waking.
When we arrived the next morning, Teresa was our nurse and greeted us with an update and showed obvious concern for our mother's condition. We were so pleased that she had changed the type of oxygen mask that mom was wearing - the night before Mom had asked that the mask be changed as it was making her feel claustrophobic, but it had not. Teresa stated that she could tell our Mom was uncomfortable with the other mask and changed it even though at that time our Mom could not communicate with her. This action demonstrated an extra level of empathy for her patient.
As the morning progressed, our Mom's condition steadily declined, and Teresa was there treating our Mom with so much compassion and dignity. When our Mom passed, Teresa was kind and understanding of the time we needed to process and say goodbye. She treated us as if we were family and not merely clients. For that, we are so very grateful.