"My parent's passing"

Early on a Sunday morning, I received a call to say my parent had passed away. We were situated a few hours from the hospital and my parent was being treated in. They had been unwell for approximately four years and the inevitable had finally reached our doors.

We left early hours of the morning and my partner drove my sibling and I to go see my parent one last time and organise anything that had to be dealt with post-mortem. We did not arrive at the hospital until later that afternoon in Brisbane's Prince Charles Hospital.

When we did arrive, I believe they were short-staffed due to it being Sunday afternoon and the first few people we had spoken to weren't aware of my parent's death or where they would be. They discovered my parent was in the morgue and directed us to a ward one level up from the main entrance to collect their belongings. I believe it was Ward 1A if my memory serves me well. When we arrived, there were 4/5 people in the nurse's station in the ward, I believe 2 were having a chat to each other, another two barely spoke to us or made eye contact as they were back and forth on the phone trying to find out when we could go to the morgue. They didn't seem to be handling the situation well at all and as I said, barely spoke to us.

There was one nurse, a young man, who took us to the common room of the nurse station. This young man's name was John. In the common room, there were two, in my opinion, old patients who were watching the bike racing on the tv. It was extremely loud. My sibling who was balling their eyes out and myself were quite uncomfortable. My partner went to the cafe to try and find soft drink and water to replenish us. John returned with tissues apologising for the time it took him to find any. He offered us tea, coffee and water and passed on his apologies and condolences for what we were going through. He then walked off again but only to return 5-10mins later offering us a more suitable and quiet environment. He took us down the hall and unlocked an office. He said we could wait in there to relieve us of the wandering eyes and loud bike racing on the tv. He again apologised for the hospital not having a room more suited for grieving family.

John was the only person in that hospital that made us feel like he was handling the situation better than we were. He was kind, caring and considerate to our situation and needs.

When we finally left to go to the morgue he wished us well and to let him know if there was anything else he could do.

I am so thankful for his compassion on this difficult day and want to thank him in so many ways. I returned to the hospital the following day to ask if someone of his description was working that night was on shift again the next day. Thankfully he was! I sincerely thanked him for how he acted in the situation and everything he did for us. I asked for his name so I could make a positive report. I believe he deserve the utmost recognition for his work and compassion.

I just want to thank him and spread the word of his care and compassion towards our situation. Thank you!