I am a registered nurse on the Geriatric Unit. In my six (6) years of my employment I have seen the most endearing expressions of human contact and kindness. These expressions are just as important to patients as medical treatments. I have learned after working for six (6) years as a nurse on Geriatrics that it is the small things in life that really matter the most.

I am in the room of a sixty-seven year old patient who was recently told of his terminal diagnosis. His family surrounds him, his wife, two daughters and a grandson. I am listening to his wife share the shock and grief that she is experiencing. I am holding her hand. Grace Maresca, RN is crushing graham crackers, because the patient has a difficult time chewing, she is mixing the crackers with water to make a paste so the patient can have graham crackers and coffee in the afternoon just like at home. Lidia Zacharski, RN has just brought crayons and paper into the room to give to the grandson to make him feel more at home in the hospital.

The nurses on Geriatrics do not just care for the patient they care for the entire family. We know that taking care of patients involves taking care of and giving support to patient families. Families are often dealing with the grief of watching their loved ones physical and/or mental capabilities diminish. We understand that we must teach and educate not only the patient but the primary care giver, who is often a family member. We know how critical our support and encouragement is especially when a wife must give basic care to a man she has spent a lifetime with or a daughter who now must care for her mother who had always taken care of her. These are the moments when families need our strength and compassion.

Paul Caraholios, RN often spends his break time having lunch with patients whom he knows have no family or whose family lives far away. He gives his free time to listen to a lifetime of stories. Paul not only gives out medication and performs treatments; he gives his time and compassion.

Paola Wilches, RN spent her break time at the bedside of a patient, holding the hand of a dying patient who did not want to die alone. The patient passed away comfortably holding Paola's hand knowing she was not alone. Eileen Moran, RN learned from a patient she was taking care of that her 50th wedding anniversary was approaching and she was upset because she would not be able to make a chocolate cake for her husband which she done every year since her wedding day. Eileen made a chocolate cake for her patient and husband so the patient's hospitalization would not stop a 50 year tradition.

I am part of a team of nurses on Geriatrics who know no limits on kindness or compassion. We not only take of geriatric patients we treat them like family, our family. I am a geriatric nurse. My story is their story.

— Heather Walpole
Glen Cove Hospital