“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” — Maya Angelou
“It’s not about what I did for them, it’s how I made them feel.”
Making patients, families and visitors feel better means the world to Ron Meyer, MLH’s patient advocate. And, sometimes, all it takes is ice cream.
Ron took a few minutes recently to share a couple of stories about his interactions with MLH patients and families.
Repeat offender
On a recent Monday, a nurse stopped Ron, saying a patient had been asking about Ron all weekend. He didn’t recognize the patient’s name but Ron never treats anyone like a stranger. So, he went to visit the patient.
“I said, hey, “Johnny, how ya doin?’ just like we had just seen each other.”
The patient said he lives near St. Paul but bypassed two hospitals to come to MLH. He related being very ill five years ago, and Ron had visited him and helped while the nurses got him back on track.
“He said, ‘you asked me is there was anything else I could do for you?’
The man said, ‘yes, I would like a chocolate malt before I leave MLH.’ To which Ron replied: “Well, good luck with that.”
But Ron returned to the room 10 minutes later with a chocolate malt.
“That really turned things around and made me think, ‘there really are poeple who do care about me,’” the patient said.
Ron replied, “Well, you’re crazier n’ heck if you think you are gonna get ice cream again. But it was great to see you again and I hope you return home healthy.”
A little while later, Ron said, he stopped back with another chocolate malt before the patient left the hospital for the second time.
“It’s that one little things...the cheapest things we can do, that sometimes makes a difference,” Ron said.
Paybacks
On a recent summer day when it was “hotter than billy-heck,” Ron said, he had another opportunity to help out a father who was unable to be in the Emergency Room with his daughter due to COVID-19.
Ron had just walked a patient to her car and she said she appreciated the help. Ron replied that she could certainly bring him back some ice cream. They laughed and parted ways.
That’s when Ron noticed the man with his head in his hands. He was sitting outside on a bench and talked about his daughter, who was ill. The family had been traveling and the man had already taken his daughter out of another hospital because he did not like the care she received.
“I assured him we would take good care of her and asked if he would care for a chocolate malt on a hot day,” Ron said. “He replied that he was all right and didn’t need anything.”
That didn’t deter Ron, who returned quickly with a chocolate malt.
“The guy hugged me and he bawled,” Ron said. “He was so emotionally spent.”
The two parted ways but the next day Ron saw the man walking back into the hospital with a large bag containing 10 cases of Klondike bars.
“The man said, ‘this is for you because I believe you are going to share this with many people.”
Sometimes, all it takes is ice cream.