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By Brenda Kleinschmidt, Paula Papenfuss and Theresa Falk
 ike so many others his age, Joey was graduating from high school. Maybe it’s not such a remarkable feat until you consider that Joey has had to deal with the challenges of cerebral palsy all of his life. His high school graduation was a major milestone.
 Since early spring, he had been in and out of Gundersen Lutheran’s Pediatrics unit many times with complications from a shunt. In mid-May, he was readmitted with an infection. To make matters worse, his graduation ceremony from Winona High School was only a few days away, and we knew it was doubtful he’d be able to attend. Nobody was more devastated to hear this news than Joey’s mom. She had planned a graduation party to celebrate this very important day.
Luckily, we were able to arrange for Joey to attend graduation, but he would have to come back to the Hospital immediately after the ceremony. Since he wouldn’t be home for his party that weekend, we thought it would be nice to throw a surprise graduation party for Joey on the unit.
We learned Joey wouldn’t be able to attend the party because of his infection, but we decided to go ahead with the party for his mom...to celebrate the great job she’s done with her son. The day of his graduation, many nurses and staff in Pediatrics brought in food and decorated the 4 West family room for a potluck in honor of Joey. When Joey’s mom entered the room, she was overwhelmed. Just by the look on her face, we knew we had created a lifetime memory for her. Since, as his nurses, we have shared in his accomplishments and setbacks over the years, it was important for us to acknowledge to his mom that we were proud of Joey-–and her-–for reaching this important goal.
While our main duty as nurses is the well being of our patients, we do what we can to help a patient’s family during these tough times. Something as simple as a potluck for a patient’s mom marking her son’s graduation can make all the difference. |