Hospice is almost always an incredibly sad thing to talk about. Hospice means a patient is nearing the end of life and it’s always a heartbreaking sight to watch anyone on his deathbed.
I can only imagine how working in hospice care can be emotionally draining. Witnessing suffering and death on a daily basis surely isn’t the easiest thing in the world.
In fact, one nurse in a hospice inpatient facility care at Bronson Hospital in Kalamazoo, Michigan goes way beyond her duties to comfort her patients.
One patient in the said facility goes under the name Robert Olson. He lived his life working hard—so much that he retired at the late age of 85. Mostly, he was a healthy man until he started having severe breathing difficulties.
He was then transported to Bronson Hospital and was placed in hospice. Things were looking so bad that his family thought he was no longer coming home.
“He has heart problems but because of his age, they can’t put a pacemaker in,” his daughter, Roberta Lytle, told WMMT.
“He had an episode at the house, and he couldn’t breathe,” she continued. “So they took him to Bronson Hospital. He was there for about a week. We did not think he was coming home this time.”
One fateful day, Roberta wanted to spend some time with her father and was surprised by what she witnessed.
Brenda Buurstra, one of the nurses caring for Robert, was going way beyond the call of her job to care for Roberta’s dad.
“We were watching a show on Pat Boone and he told the nurse ‘I don’t like him, but I like a song that his daughter sings.’ And this lady just starts singing. And I’m just blown away because the woman’s got a voice,” Roberta fondly shared.
Apparently, Brenda has been singing for Robert. According to Roberta, his dad could no longer speak well. But this beautiful gesture from his nurse did not only make him speak again but he even started to sing!
“He said, ‘My favorite song is “You Light Up My Life.” And I just started singing it,” Brenda shared to WMMT.
However, the nurse didn’t really know the song then so she generously printed out the lyrics to learn the song.
The next day, she came back and sang the patient’s favorite song.
“He was beaming. Even through his little venting mask he was wearing, his eyes lit up. His whole countenance changed, and he had a big smile. You could tell that song lit him up. Literally ‘You Light Up My Life.’ That song really just lit him up. You could tell it touched his heart.”
Roberta captured this beautiful encounter and shared it on Youtube.
She shared, “If you listen to the video, you can hear him trying to sing at the very end. But it changed him. It was like he knew he was going to go home.”
A week later, the man’s health status improved and was cleared to come back home to his family. It was a miracle, indeed.
Brenda has been sharing her beautiful voice with her patients for the past 14 years but this was the first time she was recorded doing it. For her, nursing is more than just providing the medical needs of a patient.
“Not just taking care of the illness in a patient. [It is] to touch them, to touch their life, to touch their heart,” Brend shared.
“To make that awful hospital stay they’re going through just a little bit better, a little brighter,” she continued. ” I wanted to be on a team of positive people, and that’s what we have here at Bronson. I’m not the only nurse who goes above and beyond at Bronson. This is what we do every day.”
Unfortunately, a few months after, Robert passed away on the eve of New Year. But the kindness and love shared by Brenda will stay with Robert and his family for life.
Watch the video below to witness the beautiful moment.
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