Shirley Ballantyne
Oakey’s is pleased to announce the Oakey’s Hospice Caregivers Award winner for October 2017 is Shirley Ballantyne of Carilion Hospice.
Following is a letter we received nominating Shirley for the Hospice Caregivers Award:
When my partner was in hospice care, Shirley was the lead nurse. She took excellent care of him for a month. She not only treated his medical needs, but always treated him with respect and helped with his emotional needs.
Shirley was always there for me and his children and answered our questions and concerns.
On the day that he died, I called Carilion Hospice around 2:00 pm telling them that he was in distress. Shirley was here within 20 minutes. She gave him medication to ease his physical symptoms, and made arrangements for a priest to come out immediately. He passed away at 5:30 pm.
My partner had decided that he wanted to donate his body for medical research. Unfortunately, not quite all of the paperwork had been completed. Shirley called MedCure and spent a considerable amount of time giving them the information they needed. Once MedCure had agreed to accept him, Shirley continued to stay with us until MedCure had made arrangements for a local funeral home to pick him up and she did not leave until the funeral home had come and gone.
His family was very appreciative that she had made it possible for his final wishes to be carried out. We felt that she had gone above and beyond her duties as his nurse.