I am the daughter of a patient at the Cleveland Clinic Main Campus. My mom was placed into inpatient hospice yesterday and started failing more and more as the evening progressed. Sarah was her nurse and was giving my mom and I extra attention because she knew how hard the day was and had gotten to know my mom over the several times she was a patient over the past year.

As Sarah’s shift was ending, she could see my mom start getting worse and suggested to me that if I was going to leave to get some sleep, I do that now and then come back. She reassured me someone would call if she got any worse. I took her advice and left to go get some sleep. This morning, my day nurse told me that Sarah was so concerned about my mom and didn’t want her to be alone that she gave up her time with her family to sit with my mom for a couple of hours after her shift ended. I don’t know if many nurses who, after working 12 hours and having a young family at home, would give up time with them to sit with a dying patient, to give a family member time to rest. Sarah has gone above and beyond her job to make sure my mom was not alone during this very difficult time.