THE HEART OF IT
Because underneath the chaos, the charting, and the questionable things found in break-room refrigerators… this work matters.
These are the moments nurses carry home with them — the patients they never forgot, the coworkers who showed up, and the tiny acts of kindness nobody else saw.
THIS IS WHERE WE TELL THOSE STORIES.
THE NURSE WHO PLAYED AIR GUITAR WITH MY DAD
My dad was dying, and we were spending countless hours tucked into a small dimly lit hospital room. Then one day out of the blue, I come up to his room and hear the sound of the Eagles playing. I walk in and see one of his nurses playing air guitar to the Eagles playlist that he had downloaded onto the computer beside my father’s bed. Why? Because my dad had told him how much he loved the Eagles.
For a few minutes, that hospital room became something else as the notes of my dad’s favorite songs filled the air. My dad laughed. We laughed. And in the middle of one of the hardest moments our family had ever lived through, this nurse gave us something we didn’t expect to find there: joy.
That moment meant so much to my dad that before he died, he asked us to wrap up one of his drawings for that nurse. They had talked about the Philippines, where the nurse was from, and how much he had loved to fish. My dad had told the nurse how much he loved to draw. Dad wanted him to have one of his own hand drawn pieces of art.
After my dad died, we hand-delivered it.
Because sometimes nursing isn’t the medication, the charting, or the task list. Sometimes it’s knowing when a dying man needs the Eagles and an air guitar.
— K. Swanson, North Carolina
(Picture by Van Cochran, drawn by colored pencils.)
GOT A STORY THAT STUCK WITH YOU?
A patient. A coworker. A moment you still think about years later. We want the stories that reminded you why this work matters.
Laughing nurse is a site created for nurses, bringing humor and hope, motivation, and a break from the stressors of the job. Created by funny motivational healthcare keynote speaker Kelly Swanson.