From the very first day that I started at Myton nearly 10 years ago, patients’ families have told me about the wonderful care their loved ones received.
At the heart of almost all of their stories are our nurses and nursing teams. I have always felt proud that as an organisation we employ such fantastic people who enable us to make a real difference at the end of someone’s life.
Every story I hear touches me but it was an incident that happened just a few months ago that dramatically brought home to me how amazing our nurses are.
I was standing in the reception at Warwick Myton Hospice when a patient came in on a stretcher. He was surrounded by his family as well as a whole host of bags, medical equipment and the ambulance crew.
It was all a bit frantic and the patient, an elderly gentleman, looked frightened and confused. Then one of our nurses came to greet him. They smiled, took his hand and very calmly said, “now then my lovely, let’s get you sorted out” and in that moment, as I watched him take her hand and the apprehension slowly slip from his face, I really understood what all of those families were describing when they talked about being cared for by Myton’s nursing team.
The empathy with which each person is treated is, I think, unique; whether it’s relieving the fear of an anxious patient or holding the hand of someone having a really tough time, the kindness and compassion just shines through.
I often wonder how our nurses do what they do day in and day out – I don’t think I could do it but I’m really glad they can because it’s what makes Myton the wonderful organisation it is. We do try to remember to say thank you but I’m pretty sure we don’t say it often enough.
This International Nurses Day we would like to take the opportunity to say it loud and clear …