“As a hospice nurse, I love providing basic comfort care and helping people when they need me to care for them at the end of their lives. I am lucky to work with a great team — social workers, chaplains and nurses — who attend to the whole person. I help patients live their lives to the fullest no matter how much time they have left. We’re not just here for the physical care but for the emotional care as well. Small things mean the most and are very important to patients. Sometimes we help them achieve their last wishes like being there for a grandchild’s birthday or a child’s graduation. What I am providing to a patient is a service they need, in a timely manner, in a friendly way. Families always remember who kept their loved ones comfortable. So going the extra mile for them and their families is what we do every day.”
Last year, a patient under registered nurse Karen Testasecca’s care had a dying wish to return to his home state of Wisconsin with his young wife and three children, but it looked very unlikely he would survive to make the trip. Karen worked tirelessly to get everything arranged for the safety and comfort of her fragile patient and his family. Karen traveled with him, caring for him during the flight. The patient survived the trip and was able to spend two precious days with his family at home.
Karen Testasecca, a registered nurse with Henry Ford Macomb-Warren Hospice Care, a division of the System’s Community Care Services, was named 2005 Nurse of the Year by the Detroit Newspaper Agency (Detroit News and Free Press) for her outstanding devotion and continued dedication to the nursing profession.
