Cartoons and popsicles in the ED
Nurses entertain toddlers during mom’s visit with the doctor
You never know what you might see or hear in an emergency department.
When Bonnie Hipolito, interim nurse manager, walked into her office one morning at PeaceHealth United General Medical Center’s ED in Sedro-Woolley, Washington, she overheard strains of children’s music and then happened upon a smile-inspiring vision.
Two of the ED nursing team, Zak Thatcher, RN, and newcomer Cora Dubrow, RN, were keeping two toddlers entertained while their mother wrapped up her visit with the doctor.
The little ones sat happily on the nurses’ laps, slurping red popsicles and watching cartoons on one of the station computers.
Hipolito said Thatcher and Dubrow sat there smiling while they were talking to and jiggling the sticky toddlers—not seeming to mind one bit the resulting red smears on their scrubs and in their hair.
“These nurses amaze me each and every day with the little ways in which they care for their patients—and sometimes their patients’ children!” she noted.
