Jeannie Guffey knew her time was short. Diagnosed with lung cancer last summer, she was now confined to a bed in Huntsville Hospital’s Medical Intensive Care Unit.
Soon, she would be sent home under the care of hospice.
Guffey had expressed a desire to be baptized, and her family wanted to honor her wish. But inside a fourth-floor hospital room packed with monitors, IV poles and other medical equipment, they weren’t sure how to make it work.
Enter ICU nurses Erin Powers, Kaitlin Swaim and Emily Owens.
“This was a last wish that was very important to the patient and her family, so we had to find a way,” said Owens.
‘Emotional moment’
After a little online research, the nurses used their own money to buy a kiddie pool from Walgreens, and they had it delivered to the hospital by DoorDash on July 8. They inflated it using an electric air pump supplied by Guffey’s family, then crafted a makeshift hose out of ventilator tubing to fill the pool with warm water from the sink.
“Sometimes, you’ve just got to get innovative,” Owens said.
Once everything was ready, the ICU staff used the ceiling lift in the room to help Guffey, 74, into the water. Her adult son Jody performed the baptism ceremony as her husband Ronnie and other loved ones gathered close around the pool.
“It was just a really sweet, emotional moment,” said daughter-in-law Carol Guffey. “The nurses went above and beyond to make this happen at the 11th hour when we were running out of options.”
“Seeing her baptized, it was like the weight of the world was lifted off our shoulders.”
‘Total God thing’
A day after fulfilling her final wish, Jeannie left the hospital to spend her remaining days at home in Huntsville surrounded by loved ones. She passed away peacefully the following Friday, July 17, leaving behind a family filled with gratitude.
Her daughter-in-law believes it wasn’t mere coincidence that the nurses and other ICU staff assigned to care for Jeannie Guffey supported the family’s wishes and went out of their way to make the hospital-room baptism possible.
“That was a total God thing,” she said. “And those nurses will be special to us forever.”
Powers, who was Guffey’s charge said, “It was just an honor being able to give Ms. Guffey the last thing she wanted before she went home. The family was eternally grateful and very gracious that we were able to do this for them and for Miss Guffey before she left. Being a nurse is so much more than just being a nurse.
“It’s more than managing symptoms, and it’s more than making people feel better. It’s helping take care of not only their physical health, but their spiritual health, their mental health and their emotional health. We’re here for all of it — not just to make sure that the infections and the wounds and all of that get better, but it’s so that you’re better overall.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written and originally published by Huntsville Hospital. Used with permission.
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