Palermo: Remembering Lucy, who knew no limits

In considering nurses and acts that define nursing, the nurse who immediately comes to my mind is Lucy.

Her compassion for her patients is what I really remember. One patient, an older gentleman at the end of his life, wanted to be baptized before he passed away. Turned out that what he really wanted was a full-immersion baptism. Most of us thought that there was no way this could happen in our busy ICU. Leave it to Lucy to figure it out. Lucy brought that man (and all of his equipment) to the burn unit, where they used the wound care tank as a baptismal pool and baptized him. Then, she brought him back, all wrapped up in fresh towels and happy. She didn’t let the limits of our unit limit her care. She showed me it could be limitless.

A caring colleague, Lucy was the one who looked after all of us. Always cheerful and positive, despite the tragic loss of her beloved husband, Gary. She was family to us and shared in our day-to-day lives and our big events. There must be legions of medicine residents whose ICU rotations were made easier by Lucy’s knowledge and guidance.

I always think of Lucy in May during National Nurses Week — ironic, because she really hated it. “No other group of professionals has a week to celebrate that they are professionals, so why should we?” she would say. However, it is a perfect opportunity to recognize this nurse who cared, comforted and advocated for so many patients during their critical illnesses.

Lucy was the ultimate nurse — always super neat and super organized. Lucy said, “If you’re not two hours ahead, you’re already behind.” That’s the best advice I ever received about working in a fast-paced environment and a pearl I have passed on to many students.

Her career started when critical care was in its infancy, and over the years, she deftly kept pace with the changes in technology and the growing responsibilities that ICU nurses have for the lives that are, both figuratively and literally, in our hands.

One Saturday, working an evening shift as a nurse practitioner, I took a phone call about my next patient to admit. It was Lucy. After surviving cancer and returning to nursing, it got her again. But this time, it was beating her. She told me, “I’m done. I can’t do this anymore.”

With the same courage she showed throughout her life, she started hospice care to be in control of how it would end. It was so unfair, and it was not easy for any of us to see the one who cared so much for so many now be the one in need of caring. Yet there they were — her room was full of the nurses and friends now caring for her.

Lucy has been gone from this world for a few years now, but she is never far from my thoughts. Happy Nurses Week to you, Lucy, and to all of you who have had a part in growing me into the nurse I am today.

Palermo is also specialty director, Acute Care NP Program;nurse practitioner, Hospital Medicine Service, Strong Memorial Hospital