The way the baby was cared for helped shape her approach to nursing
My Unsung Hero: When Mom and Dad Met, and a Baby is Born, but Nothing Happens When Things Get Helped
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She said she always remembered the importance of being close to the parents and the baby. “Because in that moment what they need is compassion. And Nancy taught me that.”
“‘I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry for what you went through. It is because of the places we were in the medical world then and what we do not know now.
In 1980, JoAnne Foley was a new nurse, working the night shift in an Oregon maternity ward. The baby girl with the congenital condition was born one night. She was going to die soon.
As Foley had seen in similar cases, babies in this condition — where nothing could be done — were often placed in a bassinet and received minimal attention until they died. Nancy Allspach was the night shift supervisor.
The My Unsung Hero: How Kind Kind Someone Was – A Random Journey Through the Dark Age of Human Intelligence (Italy), by The Hidden Brain Team
The My Unsung Hero series was created by the Hidden Brain team. It features stories of people whose kindness impressed someone else.
JoAnne Foley, who was working as a nurse in the US in 1980 when she saw a baby with a congenital condition, told Hidden Brain that she felt so sorry for her. “I said, ‘I’m so sorry…What we don’t know now’,” she said. “But in that moment what they need is compassion. And Nancy taught me that,” JoAnne added.