Sometimes a thank you card, a vase of flowers, or a box of cookies just isn't enough.
So a Frisco artist honored the people who cared for her father at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Plano with a personalized painting.
Mario Cortez came down with COVID-19 last November, and developed pneumonia. The 88-year-old Mario was admitted to the hospital during a time when COVID vaccines weren't available, and treatments were in their infancy. Additionally, Mario carried several high-risk factors, and that made his daughter, Susie, worried.
"Those 10 days were the most stressful, scariest days of my life," Susie says. "My mom (Anita) had passed away a few months before. Luckily I was able to give him his cell phone before he was admitted so I could call him."
That cell phone was a lifeline for Susie. And whenever she couldn't get ahold of Mario on the cell, she would call the nurses' desk.
"I would apologize profusely for checking in on him," says Susie. "And they were like 'No, it's OK, we totally understand.' They were so helpful and patient and caring...they made me feel so comfortable and heard."
Thankfully, after 10 days of treatment, Mario was able to come home. The family was relieved and thankful. And with that gratefulness welling inside, Susie decided the perfect way to pay tribute to the workers that took care of her dad was to capture Unit 5B in a unique painting.
"I wanted to convey a feel of the Justice League," says Susie Cortez. "I wanted to create that feeling of superheroes standing strong, side-by-side."
14 masked "superheroes" appeared on Susie's canvas...kind, composed, and ready to help.
"One of the main things I wanted to create was the expression in their eyes," says Susie. "They say our eyes are the windows to our soul. I wanted to show the compassion, the love, the caring that they give us."
For the healthcare pros who have given selflessly to save lives during the pandemic, it's a meaningful gesture.
"We do get the phone calls, the thank you cards and the emails from patients, but this is something special," says Percy Paclibar, M.B.A., B.S.N., R.N., CCRN-K, critical care nursing director, who was one of the nurses depicted in the painting.
"(The painting is) something that could remind us that during difficult times taking care of our patients, there was unity among our healthcare workers to get us through this pandemic," Paclibar says.
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