Joyce Real

During her rounds, Amalia Acevedo-Sanic, nurse leader and director of cardiovascular telemetry services at Methodist Hospital Northeast, encountered Joyce Real, a distressed patient who had been unexpectedly admitted after a fall. 

Joyce was visibly upset, not because of her own condition, but because her husband was two floors above her, battling his own illness. She hadn’t been able to visit him due to his potentially contagious condition. 

With tears in her eyes, Joyce explained, “All I want is to see him. I need to see him.” 

Seeing how her stress was affecting her health, Amalia knew she had to do something. “Give me 30 minutes,” she said, determined to find a way for Joyce to see her husband, even for a moment. 

Amalia worked quickly, coordinating with the hospital team to ensure the proper precautions were in place. Joyce was overjoyed and asked the nurses to brush her hair so she could look nice for her husband. 

A line of nurses gathered to witness the beautiful moment when Joyce was wheeled to her husband, fully gowned, gloved and masked. Joyce recalled, “I got off the elevator, and everybody was looking at me and smiling.” 

And when she finally saw him, her heart lifted. “The first time I saw him, I just knew I was going to be all right,” Joyce said with a sigh of relief.

After the visit, Joyce’s condition improved rapidly, and she was soon released from the hospital. Although her husband remains in care, Joyce is filled with gratitude. 

“Thank God they brought him here. He’s a good man,” she says.

This beautiful story of compassion reminds us all that sometimes, the smallest acts of kindness can make the biggest difference.