"Did You Know I Was There?" – Nurse Drives Home The Importance Of Her Job

Jan 05, 2020 by apost team

It’s not easy to find someone whose life hasn’t been touched at some point by a hospital, nursing home, or another healthcare facility. The following account will renew your faith in the power of care in the face of unspeakable tragedy.

Reflect on your own experiences or those of a loved one. Healthcare facilities are places where bad news abounds. Whether it’s a rehabilitation facility or a hospital, test results reveal difficult diagnoses, and negative statistics swirl through the air. Physical pain can lead to deformity and disability. The psychological pain it causes can make moving forward nearly impossible. The torrent of anger and hopelessness unleashed in patients can easily become overwhelming.

Even though it might seem small compared to the health issues that led to hospitalization, the day-to-day changes in routine are no trivial matter. If you ask anyone who has had an inpatient stay, they will tell you that such facilities are among the worst places to sleep. Frequent interruptions punctuate the days and nights. Phlebotomists need blood. The nurse is here to hang a new IV bag. The list goes on, but the feeling of restlessness and lack of control remain. Even the food is typically subpar if you’re allowed to eat it. After-dinner conversations that extend into the night are also sometimes not possible if visiting hours are limited.

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Healthcare facilities are places where losing loved ones to death is an ever-present reality. No one wants to learn their husband’s cancerous tumor is growing despite aggressive chemotherapy or that their child’s heart has become too weak to withstand the heart surgery that is their best bet for more time. Family members and friends keep constant vigil over their loved ones to support them as they struggle to live and then summon the strength to let them go.

Being surrounded by loved ones doesn’t make death any more comfortable. A deathbed flanked by family does, however, provide tangible evidence of love to those who can consciously comprehend it. You may wonder what death is like from the perspective of your friend who doesn’t seem to know you’re there. Do they hear your voice? Feel your touch? Can you ever be sure they even know you’re there?

When you or a loved one are face-to-face with death, endless compassion is as necessary to survival as air. While you can wax poetic about the nature of compassion all day long or contemplate its universal energies by night, your dying loved one needs compassion in action. They need someone to complete the mundane tasks and perform the minor miracles required to support them on their terms. In short, they need a nurse.

References to selfless nurses on the frontlines of war or amid people living in poverty are part of pop culture. As grand as these visions are, they’re no match for what nurses do every day. Nurses painstakingly comb through doctor’s orders and test results, comparing them with the information they gain from listening to your heart, your lungs, and to you. When no one else is awake to hold your hand or comfort you in the night, a nurse vigilantly stands guard at your bedside, providing the strength and hope to bring you wholeness before you can resume doing so for yourself.

One such nurse, Sandra Kluskowski, very eloquently shared her heart with the world on social media. Through her Facebook post, she wonders, “Did you know I was there?” as she cares for a dying patient. Kluskowski demonstrates that real love demands we treat others with the respect, dignity, and kindness we’d like to have on our deathbeds.

For nurses, such kindness and compassion happen every day and stem from their character. If you’ve ever been to a healthcare facility, you may be wondering how you can thank the nurses in a meaningful way. Showing gratitude doesn’t have to be complicated. Be a decent human being. Verbally thank them, smile, and treat them with respect.

If you want to do more, you’re not alone. Each May, Nurses Appreciation Week gives everyone the chance to express their appreciation more formally. Volunteering to sit with patients or play an instrument is a great way to improve the quality of life for patients while boosting morale. If you prefer to remain anonymous, consider financially contributing to a health-related organization in honor of a nurse or group of nurses.

Hopefully, hearing more about how nurses help care for the dying and other vulnerable people has reminded you of a time when a nurse has helped you. Do you have a memory of a specific nurse who helped make your or a loved one’s inpatient stay into a healing experience? Perhaps the nursing staff of a facility helped bring comfort and closure to you during the final days of a loved one’s life.