Olivia E Harper
April 2025
Olivia E
Harper
,
RN
Pediatric Surgery Center
Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center & Children's Hospital
Spokane
,
WA
United States
He even lost a favorite stuffed animal in the second week of treatment, and when his birthday came around in week four, Olivia had tracked down an exact replacement and had it sitting on his bed in the morning.
My 4-year-old son E had Olivia Harper as his primary nurse during his month of radiation oncology care in the middle of a year of chemotherapy. We came from out of town for the treatment, and he struggled with the multitude of new people, experiences, and sensory inputs. Where Olivia really went above and beyond was in the way she continually worked at identifying and addressing E's stressors and making his daily experience one that he no longer feared, to the point that when she could not be there, he would ask for her. She brought different games to catch his attention, tracked down multiple aroma sources to help him handle the taste and smells of the procedures, communicated his favorite things to the other nurses when she couldn't be there, and searched high and low for his favorite recovery popsicle flavor when they were out. She took his well-being personally by reading reports from the previous day, proactively raising flags because she knew when he wasn't completely normal, and making sure he was efficiently getting what he needed both medically and emotionally. I never worried about E or what he would have to deal with when Olivia was taking care of him. He even lost a favorite stuffed animal in the second week of treatment, and when his birthday came around in week four, Olivia had tracked down an exact replacement and had it sitting on his bed in the morning. I hope every child who has to endure extended treatment like E's gets a nurse like Olivia.