Kelly Olaski
June 2018
Kelly
Olaski
,
RN
Emergency Room
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Boston
,
MA
United States

 

 

 

Recently, Kelly displayed much compassion, empathy, and patience toward an already grieving mother. Her son who was a patient who came in through the ED with an overdose but unfortunately did not make it. He was recently released from jail to be allowed to attend his father's funeral and overdosed in the bathroom of his mother's house. The mother who just lost her husband to cancer earlier in the week, had now lost her son. From Kelly's first interaction with the mother, she was gentle, understanding and just made herself present. The mother was all alone, but she was on the phone briefly discussing the viewing of her son in our morgue. The mother explained the concern she had with the release of her son from jail, fearing that something like this would happen. Kelly sat with her hand on top of the mothers, eagerly listening to every word she said. As the mother sat there hesitant to see her son's body, Kelly assured her to do what she thought was right even if that meant not seeing him at all. The mother sat there in tears pondering. Although conflicted about seeing her son's body, the mother chose not to as she was just not ready. Kelly hugged her and told her that it was okay. When she was ready to leave, Kelly escorted her out to the front door and asked several times if she would be alright to drive home. When the mother reassured her, Kelly told her that she would call in an hour to ensure that she arrived home safely. In the sad situation, Kelly was able to be present. She conducted herself in a non-selfish, nonjudgmental manner, full of compassion and empathy for this grieving mother, no matter the circumstances. The mother was grieving not just the loss of her husband, but now her son as well. Kelly was able to provide the emotional support that she needed at that moment in time.