We have a patient on caseload right now that owned and rode motorcycles in his younger days. One day, he was talking with his nurse and mentioned to him that "he knows he can no longer ride a motorcycle himself but he sure would like to take a ride in a sidecar." That remark made its way back to our office and as volunteer coordinator I knew that one of our regular volunteers worked at a bike shop. I contacted her and put her on the lookout for a sidecar. A couple of days later, out of the blue, into the bike shop parking lot rode a guy with a sidecar attached to his bike! What are the chances of that without the help of some divine intervention? Our volunteer ask him if he would be willing to help us make the patient's dream come true. He told her that he would be happy to, and once our social worker got all the consent forms signed we sat a date for the ride.
The day before the ride my volunteer sent me a text and ask what I thought about asking the newspaper to come out and cover the story. I told her that I had called the paper, left a message, but had not heard back, and thought it would be wonderful if they covered the story. She told me she would send them an e-mail request. DUH! I guess my age is showing as it never even occurred to me to send an e-mail. Thank goodness for young volunteers because the paper responded to her e-mail and agreed to come out and cover the story. How wonderful is that?
The morning of the ride arrived and several of our staff were able to come to the facility to join in on the fun. Our patient was a little shy at all the attention but when he saw the bike and sidecar he couldn't move fast enough to get into it. His hospice nurse assisted him into the sidecar, and my volunteer helped him to put on a helmet and off he went. After the driver road him around for a bit he stopped and ask our patient how he was doing? Our patient's reply, "Well, I could ride more, but I think they are expecting us back soon," so back they came.
Several days after the event our patient was still talking about the wonderful time he had. What a blessing it was to be able to make this wish a reality, and that was not the only blessing of the day.
In the month of July we had lost a more than normal number of patients, and the entire staff needed a little joy to raise spirits. Having the newspaper come and cover the story, and be featured in the local paper was exactly what the doctor ordered! It was so terrific to not only make our patient feel special, but to have the spotlight on the good things we do as part of our daily jobs. A fabulous pat on the back that buoyed us all up and helped us heal from the loss of some really special patients.
Many thanks for the willingness of my volunteer to go the extra mile to help the team fulfill this patient's wish. This absolutely would not have happened without her. I am so fortunate to have the best team of volunteers ever assembled. Each one has special talents and gifts and willingly shares them to make a huge difference in our patients lives.
No comments:
Post a Comment