Inova Loudoun Hospital Wedding
16 Jun
I recently saw an article in the Ashburn Patch titled, “Inova Plans Bedside Wedding for Dying Patient’s Daughter,” and knew I should probably pull out the tissues before reading further. And I was right, for once again, our Inova team pulled together to make it possible for a patient dying from pancreatic cancer with only days to live, to see his only daughter get married.
Mr. Bill Malone had been a patient on the oncology unit at ILH for quite a while. During his time there, the staff had gotten to know not only Mr. Malone, but the entire family, including his wife, Francie, their daughter, Dori, and Dori’s fiancé, Jim O’Sullivan. The nurses, techs and physicians enjoyed hearing about the wedding plans for Dori and Jim that were to take place on June 4th. After Mr. Malone’s latest stint in the hospital, which lasted more than a month, he was released to a rehab facility. Unfortunately though, he contracted pneumonia and was readmitted in May. The staff then had the sad task of informing the family that Mr. Malone would not live to see the wedding.
They brainstormed, came up with a plan and asked the family if they would consider a hospital wedding. In two days, the team learned how to be wedding planners. April Brown, PCD, and Kathy Wright, Oncology Clinical Specialist, with help from Selena Brown, RN, and Beth Guzzetta, Clin Tech, organized and decorated. Gloria Andrzejewki, RN, brought champagne for the couple, balloons and wedding bells. Amanda Korn, RN, sang a Shania Twain song, “From This Moment,” Najat Chemlali from Food Services ordered a wedding cake and hors d’oeuvres for the reception and Charlene Martin from Community Affairs took photos.
I mentioned before that we are so much more then our job titles. Charlene works in Community Affairs and fills in as a photographer, but she also pitched in to help Virginia Moore of chaplaincy services on this special wedding day. During the “I now present to you husband and wife” portion of the ceremony, Charlene and others witnessed a near comatose man raise his hands and clap three times. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room.
It is a spiritual axiom that when we give, we receive way more than that which we gave. Amanda Korn, who was Mr. Malone’s primary oncology nurse for the last seven or so years, said that this event was her most rewarding day as a nurse. Amanda said it was awesome to see all the disciplines come together to pitch in and help in any way they could.
And that’s what our Inova teams do so well every day. I’ve heard similar stories over the years and am always grateful for the reminder of the lessons learned with each one. Our best caregivers (and we are all caregivers) know that we don’t just take care of a patient; we take care of the entire family – physically, mentally and spiritually. Thanks to this team, Dori could have her father at her wedding and provide him with the knowledge that he could now leave this place knowing all is well. Bill Malone passed the next day.
I can attest to the Pancreatic patient story I am an employee here at Inova/and my
dad lived in Halifax County, Virginia. My Dad was diagnoised in Sept.2010 and passed
in March/2011 of Pancreatic Cancer. He was informed that at the local hospitals in my
hometown that he needed a whipple procedure and no one there could do it. By me
living here and my Dad living there my heart poured out to get a surgeon who was
equipped to handle such a procedure. I cried out for help thru the Physcians Services
via our email and Dr. Broughan responded as the overseer and put Dr.Piper on the surgery
and they said these words to me GO GET YOUR DAD. My heart was filled with joy and when my
Dad came he fell in love with our facility/staff at Fairfax Hospital and Dr.Brahaugn and Dr.
Piper made my Dad feel so at ease even with his deadly disease. He felt confident that
even though he knew his life was coming to a possible end the joy of that was these great
doctors thought enough of his life for him to come all the way from Halifax, Virginia
and at least give him a fighting chance. Even on my Dad dying bed he always mentioned
just how great Inova took care of him as wells as comforted my mother/sister and myself
as we walked thru this sad journey. This makes me proud to say I work for Inova Health
System a company that really care about Family Value. And as tears come my eyes
awhlie reading the wedding story for the Pancreatic patient all I could think was
look at Inova they Did Again! That makes me proud to be an Inova Employee!
Thank you for sharing the good story. I wish the father could live longer because of this.
It is great to hear that we still have time in our hectic lives as Inova employees to do something so gracious as to host a bedside wedding. I’m praying it will lift the moral of the employees.
Fairfax Hospital is rated as a world class facility. I am embarrased to work here. We have a water machine with its guts hanging out for the second day. It has been unoperational for two weeks. The pharmacy did not have Pitocin for us on this week. We are labor and delivery. Paint has peeled off the dry wall in one of our patient care rooms (319) above the baby scale. In one room, I have cellophane tape holding a paper towel machine in a patient’s room.
We are starting to use Creative Solutions Boards across the system and it sounds as if your department is in need of one now! Thank-you for your comments, we can’t fix what we don’t know about. This also gives me an idea for another blog – I think I’ll ask Ken Leeson for some success stories of problems we’ve fixed with the Creative Solutions Board.