The way a dying baby was treated in the 80’s changed her approach to nursing
An episode of My Unsung Hero: Stories of the Close-In Parent and Baby, and a Memorino with the Hidden Brain Team
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She said that she always needed to be close to the baby and the parents. They need to be compassionate in that moment. And Nancy taught me that.”
“‘I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry for what you went through. Not only because of what you went through, but because of where we were in the medical world then, and what we didn’t know that we know now.”
My Unsung Hero: A Journey through the Memory of Nancy Allspach’s Night Shift Supervisor and a Memory of a Baby Who Came Home
“She would go into the nursery multiple times through the shift and hold that baby,” Foley recalled. She spoke to the baby while putting her face down next to her. She gave her a bottle of water and put her in a rocking chair. The baby was treated as if she were her own.
Babies in this condition were often placed in a bassinet and given little attention until they died, like Foley had seen in similar cases. But Foley says the night shift supervisor, a woman named Nancy Allspach, had a different approach.
This story is part of the My Unsung Hero series, from the Hidden Brain team. It features stories of people whose kindness left a lasting impression on someone else.
