StoryCorps at SHC: Sophia Loo & Judy Kaufman

Sophia Loo (SL): I think to this day, Adam and his mother have deeply touched me throughout my nursing career. I can't imagine growing up with a chronic condition and then having to endure that through his journey of adolescent and then being in and out of hospitals, the treatments, and what he may have endured with him and his family. So it's not just Adam who've touched me, it was his mom. She had a unique gift. She was just very caring, touching, caring, not just for her son, but also for the staff and in her approach, her communication with us really asking us how we're doing. And when I say she has this unique gift, for unknown reasons, she happens to just magically show up when I'm having one of my bad days or bad moments, and she has brought little a bouquet of flowers from her garden and that was just a small act of kindness and it's a reminder of serving humanity in multiple ways.

Her role as a mom, her role as a family member, wanting to share her gratitude to us as caregivers and nursing and how she's touched me and just seeing her, just having a moment of conversation in the hallway, she just lights up my day. And just that connection of kindness and compassion that she showed to me and that the love and compassion and kindness that we express to our patients through our colleagues, through our staff, it's a reminder for me why we are here and what we do every day.

Judy Kaufman (JK): Yeah, and I know that's when I felt so connected to you just watching the way you talked about Karen and Adam. And I think as nurses or many people in the public don't always realize that it's not just the patient that we care for, it's the extended family and their loved ones, that sometimes the patient is well taken care of and it's the family that needs the support.

Produced by Stanford Health Care with interviews recorded in collaboration with StoryCorps, a national nonprofit whose mission is to preserve and share humanity's stories in order to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world www.storycorps.org

Sound Editor: Emily Hsiao

We use a transcription service, and though we do check for accuracy, there may be errors. Please contact us if you have any questions.