Eunide Chery, R.N., became a nurse 10 years ago and has served in hospice care for VITAS® Healthcare for six years. “In hospice care, when you meet a patient, you are a stranger,” she says. “[But] after spending time with them, holding and caring for them, you are family.” “When I leave at the end of the day, I can be happy that my patient is comfortable and well cared for,” she adds.
Chery appreciates taking the time to enhance her patient’s quality of life. “A 103-year-old man came into hospice. He was in and out of hospice over the next two years,” she tells us. “He asked for me every time. He had no children and his wife had passed. ‘Promise you are not going to leave me,’ he said. He wanted me to choose his outfit for when he died. He had blue pants but not a white shirt. After work, I bought him a white shirt. I set everything up for him. He said: ‘Now I can go.’ The next day he passed.”
