A celebration of special caregivers during National Nurses Week.
“Our fingerprints don’t fade from the lives we touch.” -Judy Blume
Although health care practitioners are often cautioned to avoid becoming emotionally invested in a critically ill patient’s outcome, the reality on the ground is it’s impossible not to become engrossed. They spend significant time with the patient, get to know them intimately, and often become friends with the family.
Such was the case during the five months I spent in the hospital after the fire.
Each day, these were the individuals who drew my blood, cleaned my lines, and changed my bandages. They were the leaders who kept me progressing physically and elevated emotionally, often at the exact same time. In one instance, the hospital lost all power one evening. With my respirator now silent and still, a nurse dashed into my room, reassured me it was going to be alright, and began hand-bagging air into my lungs until the power came back on in the unit.
These nurses were the servants who never missed a single shift. Whether it was a holiday, weekend, or night, they were there for me and every other patient on the floor.
My family and I remained in contact with many of these nurses even after being released. We’d come back to the floor to visit them, exchange birthday calls and Christmas cards. We had Thanksgiving dinner with one of them for more than a decade afterwards and invited as many as we could track down to my wedding 16 years after being discharged from their care.
And yet, one of the most meaningful gifts these nurses provided occurred recently.
While beginning day 14 of filming On Fire, I walked onto a hospital floor that was converted to mirror the burn center from 1987. In walking into the room where they would film the scenes with me as a child in a hospital bed, I saw the exact same equipment, same privacy curtain, same hospital sheets and even the same little bear I had held throughout my recovery.
It was so overwhelming I had to sit down to gather my thoughts.
Still racked with emotion, I got up, left the room, and in turning the corner, bumped into two nurses who worked in the actual burn center where I was treated more than three decades ago. Mary Wilcox and Sue Rodrigues were there during the most difficult time in our lives; and now they were there again – as background actors – to portray those days during one of the best times in our lives. The picture above is of these two nurses flanked by John Corbett and Stephanie Szostak.
My friends, maybe health care practitioners are cautioned to avoid becoming emotionally invested in a critically ill patient’s outcome, but we patients can’t help ourselves. It’s impossible not to become engrossed with the ladies and gentlemen who make such lasting impacts on our lives.
Today, millions of nurses will clock in without fully comprehending the lifelong impact they’ll have on the patients they serve during the shift. Speaking on behalf of past patients who woke up today knowing we are alive because of the care we received, we are grateful for you and we love you.
Turns out the fingerprints of love never fade from the lives of those you touch.
Today is your day. Live Inspired.
12 replies on “Fingerprints Don’t Fade”
To all the nurses on the six floor of St. Lukes Hospital in Chesterfield, Mo. One of you saved my wife life on a Thanksgiving night many years ago. You gave her several more years of life even though she passed away from non-alcoholic cirrhosis. I just wanted to thank all of you for your heroic efforts that evening because your efforts gave us time to sell our house and move closer to our daughter, a nurse, and her family. Many times I bit my tongue when I seen nurses in areas playing on their phones but now I can put that to rest after I heard about your extraordinary efforts that night. John, later I realized that during high school you ran around with my daughter, the nurse. God love you and keep you and thanks for all your inspirations. I am coming to realize that nurses are as special as doctors but it took me 80years.
John, I shared this story with you when I met you many years ago. I heard you telling your story and I started to cry. It brought up some memories I hadn’t thought of since I was young. Mom was a nurse and worked in the burn unit where they brought the victims of the Our Lady of Angels school fire in Chicago. I never really appreciated what she did and how it must have affected her until I heard your story. So thank you. My Mom was a great nurse. I miss her and thank her and all the nurses and caregivers for the amazing jobs they do.
Going through treatments for breast cancer has meant being in contact with so many nurses throughout this last year! They are truly angels among us. They have comforted me when procedures are painful, called to check on me after surgeries, made me laugh during some treatments, and always responded with a smile! It is truly a passion and dedication on their part to do this, not only day after day, but hour after hour, patient after patient. As I progress through each treatment, I’ve told them how much they have touched my heart. They really are some of Gods angels here on earth!
John, thank you for this! It’s so important to recognize and thank wonderful health-care providers. They literally make a difference in matters of life and death! I was just telling my retired-nurse cousin yesterday, I could never do what she did. (We each have our gifts). However, precisely because I could never be a nurse, I admire all the more the wonderful ones, like those who helped you survive! God bless our nurses and inspirational authors who tell about them.
Lynn Morrissey
St. Louis
Both of my stepdaughters are nurses. Erin is an ER nurse, and Alyssa is a PES (psychiatric emergency services) nurse in the ER. While I don’t have any patients testimony, Erin has been nominated for the Daisy Award, national recognition award for outstanding patient care, and Alissa, for the local hospital’s best patient advocate award. Nursing is a challenging career and to be nominated for these awards is a statement to their dedication to their patients. We are proud parents of the two of them and are grateful for the recognition of their accomplishments.
My granddaughter is Hadley Christine, a hospice nurse. She wrote a book, “The In-Between “.This book has touched thousands maybe millions of lifes, even recently Alex Trebek’s wife Jean Trebek contacted her telling her about the comfort the book gave her. Jean said she is at peace now about how Alex died. This fall NBC-Univeral is developing the book into a TV series. Hadley will be an executive producer on the series. I met you when my next door neighbor Jeff Stewart flew you to the MFDA-LFDA convention in Biloxi, Ms.
John. That’s all I knew about him. My daughter was 8 when she faced a life-saving, complex surgery for a brain tumor. She had been showing symptoms for a year. When an MRI revealed the cause, things moved at warped speed.
The night before the surgery at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, she was her usual self—goofy and sociable with the staff. She had managed to survive so many tests and treatments that I’m sure she didn’t fully comprehend what was to come in a few short hours. She wanted us to leave as she knew she’d see us early in the morning. Before we even got home, she had called my parents where we were staying. She was petrified. Tearful. We retiurned to the hospital like an Indy car racer and scurried to her room. There was John. Encouraging her. He comforted her and got her out of a tear-soaked bed to play some nerf basketball.
That’s what we found when we arrived. He turned her over to our care, but I’ll never forget the look in his eyes that clearly showed his understanding of her pain, our pain, and the risk that lie ahead.
My baby girl continues to have health problems but is raising a family, working full-time, and loving on others with the compassion given her so many years ago.
Wherever you are, John. I thank you and praise God for the risks you took to comfort us all.
Requesting grace and mercy if this doesn’t make sense as my eyes are blurred with beautiful memories.
My mother spent most of high school and college years in various hospitals and rehab centers. She always talked about the nurses. They made the difference in her day and gave her the encouragement she needed when her family was an hour away. The nurses were the ones that answered the phone when a sibling or I would call to talk to our mother. Many, not all, doctors were hurried and disconnected as they quickly made their rounds. Nurses stayed with her, talked with her, and listened to her concerns. They knew my name when I visited. Thank you to those nurses that really “see” each patient as a person and shows real care for them!
Alison was one my daughters hospice nurses when she was nearing the end after being diagnosed with Neuroendocrine Cancer less than a year earlier at the age of 38. To see your daughter suffering was to say the least the hardest thing I have had to face. Alison knew it was nearing the end she had worked her normal 12 hour day shift, but wouldn’t leave us or our daughter when it came time for her to go home she chose to work a double shift and be there. She worked tirelessly to make sure Danielle wasn’t suffering. The hospice nurses at Cottingham Hospice house have no idea how they have touched our lives. Kathy, Lyndsey, Ashley L, the CNA Mary and Ashley F (Social worker) I still go visit them and we keep in touch through texting. They are truly angels helping patients in the waiting room to heaven.
Joylene Bernard. She was my mom’s hospice nurse during the last year of my mother’s life. Even though she was losing someone very significant in her life to cancer, she never failed to show up 100% for us!!
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Last year I spent 5 days in ICU for bilateral pulmonary emboli which occurred suddenly out of nowhere. The nursing care I received from every nurse on that unit was exceptional. As a nurse myself, I know what should have been done, and these nurses went above and beyond the basics of everyday care & monitoring. They helped me through a frightening experience and today I am healthy and whole. So proud of those in my profession. Nursing is not just a job, it’s a calling. It’s a desire to love people back to health. A career that I have held for 48 years and still love!