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“It’s my life’s work. It is going to be my legacy when I’m long gone.”
— Ashley, RN
Ashley has been a nurse at Minnesota Hospice for five years. During that time, she has sat with families through some of the most tender and difficult moments of their lives. She has held hands. She has answered calls at 2 a.m. She has shown up, over and over, for people who needed someone there.
When we sat down with her to talk about the Minnesota Hospice team, Ashley had so much to say about the culture.
“When I joined Minnesota Hospice, I kept thinking, this is too good to be true. And it just kept being true. So, I am still here!”
— Ashley, RN
Ashley came to Minnesota Hospice after years in other nursing roles. The difference, she says, was immediate. Leadership listens. Staff opinions are valued. When a nurse is struggling, the response is: take a mental health day. How can the team support you?
That kind of culture is rare in healthcare, says Ashley.
At the heart of it, caring for families is what keeps her here at Minnesota Hospice.
“Getting to care for people in their most vulnerable moments and being able to throw them a lifeline… we offer such a specific loving service. It is really special to be a key part of that.”
— Ashley, RN
In fact, just before this interview, Ashley received a phone call. A family whose loved one she had cared for several months earlier was calling to thank her. The husband had passed after a prolonged illness, and the family had really struggled.
Ashley and her team had been with them through all of it.
“To have someone call you months later to thank you,” Ashley says, “is really unexpected and really incredible and really humbling.”
She also wants people to understand what hospice care actually is, because that misunderstanding still gets in the way of families getting hospice help sooner.
“Hospice care means choosing to live a more comfortable last days of your life, instead of being in a hospital and being poked full of needles. We help people live life.”
— Ashley, RN
When asked what this hospice care means to her after all these years, Ashley paused before answering, and in that pause, you could feel how much the question meant to her.
“To be able to help people at the end of their life in this peaceful, amazing way is one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever been given. I feel really humbled and lucky to do this work every day.”
— Ashley, RN
That is what 10 years of Minnesota Hospice was founded on. People like Nurse Ashley, who show up with their whole heart, every single day for families.
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