Being thankful

We all know the tradition. You sit around the table telling everyone what you’re thankful for this year. A good job. Some savings. Healthy children. Most of us have some sort of tradition that goes that way, me included. And one of the things that I am thankful for is our wonderful hospital. The people that work at Tuomey are incredible. Let me tell you a quick story, and I think you’ll agree just how incredible they really are.

We had a case last year that was heart-breaking. One of those gut-wrenching stories that brings tears to your eyes. We had a lady on our oncology floor who had terminal cancer. She was going to die, and it was going to happen soon. Unfortunately, sometimes when people get cancer, no one can cure them. They die. And that in itself is heartbreaking. But you see, her husband was in ICU – and his prognosis at the time was not very good either. And they had two boys – 18 & 15.

Can you just imagine? Being that young and watching both of your parents slip away, on separate floors in a hospital – and you are not even out of your teens. Heart-breaking.

Members of the nursing staff and some of our case managers wanted to do something. Anything. The boys just wanted their family together. So that’s what they did. In her final hours, staff members pushed the mom’s bed into the ICU and placed her beside her husband. There they would lie beside each other – one last time, and the boys would have their family together. The staff took pictures. One last family portrait.

The mom died soon after that, and the oldest son was joining the military to help support his younger brother. And our staff couldn’t change the outcome, but they could bring that family together one last time. One last memory.

That’s the kind of people we have here at Tuomey. I hope we never have to repeat the events in this case, but if we do, that’s what I’m thankful for this year. People like this. People who really care.

I also want to give thanks for this special place that we call home and for all the people who make it special. We give thanks for a baby’s cry and for a family’s happy tears because of a talented, caring team of doctors and nurses.

We give thanks for a life saved and the technology – and the technician – that allowed it to be so. We give thanks for a therapist that helped a loved one return to being the person they were – and better.

We give thanks for allowing us to be a shoulder to cry on, a hand to lift you up and a heart to care about your path ahead. We give thanks for a single heartbeat, because in that brief moment resides the difference that makes miracles.

We give thanks for the miracles that happen at Tuomey every day, and for Sumter and her citizens, as you allow us to be a part of your lives.

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Tuomey.