EAST MOLINE, Illinois – Rising waters are not stopping two dedicated hospice nurses from delivering to their patients.
Stephanee Peterson and TA Peterson are two hospice nurses through Compassus and they need to gear up for a long but necessary trip by putting their waders on before braving the flood waters.
This preparation is necessary to reach a patient who lives in a flooded home on Campbell’s Island just off the Mississippi River. This time they must walk and take a boat to perform their care – something they’ve never had to do before.
“This is her home, and this is where she wants to be,” says Peterson.
“They just blow my socks off,” says Chuck Roberson, the patient’s brother-in-law. “These people come out just to help other people and it’s hard to argue with that.”
No amount of water can keep these nurses from providing care.
“These patients need us, we can’t have the flood waters keep us from doing their job,” says Peterson. “This is the time when they need us the most.”
They know time is ticking for their patients.
“This shouldn’t be an exception to care, this should be the standard,” emphasized Petersen.
And no matter how much the water rises, they are determined to make that time count.
The nurses say the entire trip to the patient’s house can take up to three and a half hours. The visit the patient on Campbell’s Island twice a week.
