Ann MarieI would like to thank you first for providing this venue through which we, her family and friends, can gratefully extend our thanks for the care my daughter, Laura, was given during her stay at St. Agnes Hospital June 25 through July 15, 2007.
On June 26, her son’s birthday, Laura was operated on by Dr. Jesus Esquivel. Besides myself, Laura was accompanied to Baltimore by her son and one of her best friends. Her father and step mother arrived soon after and all of us stayed for the three weeks she was there. Her brother drove up from Virginia each day to see her and other family members from the area were also there. She had plenty of family caregivers at the hospital every day and many times I feared we were underfoot of the staff but they somehow worked around us.
Dr. Esquivel’s attendance on my daughter, his many visits to her bedside, and his willingness to attend to the family’s questions and to address their concerns was admirable, the more so because we know how busy doctors are.
The staff was a pleasure to be around. Most were kind, cheerful, and understanding. It was at St. Agnes that I developed an appreciation for the dedication of medical personnel, and particularly for the nurses. I believe their description as angels of mercy is well deserved.
However, there is one person, whose kindness and love was so encompassing that it was overwhelming. I am speaking of PJ, also known as Patricia Jones. PJ was the technician, who was assigned to Laura several times during the three week stay. When Laura was so wracked with pain, so weak, so tired, when the family was so scared, and so hopeless, PJ came in with her love and concern. There was no bath-in-a bag mentality about PJ. She gave real baths. She had a philosophy about the kind of care patients deserved and she lived her philosophy. She was gentle, sweet, loving, kind, and an example to all of us. I can not say enough good about PJ. She is one of the most admirable people I have ever met. I have wanted to find a way to express how wonderful she is and am grateful that I have been given this opportunity to do so.
As a last word, I would add this. After Laura was discharged were talking about the differences between St. Agnes and our local medical center. We agreed that maybe our local medical center had some additional creature comforts, but Laura has the final word. She said “St. Agnes has more love.”
Thank you to all staff and personnel, and to PJ.
Ann Marie
St. Albans, VT
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