Hopie Brown, Environmental Services Aide, Mount Sinai South Nassau, was recently recognized for offering hope to a patient’s family during his “darkest hour.”
When the patient’s fever kept climbing, his daughter knew things “weren’t looking good,” she recently wrote in a heartfelt letter of appreciation for Hopie. So she “dropped everything” and flew to New York to be with him, and got special permission to spend the night with him as his fever spiked to more than 104 degrees.
She writes: “In the morning the most warm and cheerful woman came into the room mopping the floor. Her name was Hopie, and I felt in that moment that she truly was a sign of hope. The next day, she asked someone to bring me a recliner, which was so much more comfortable than the hard chair, to catch a few winks. There were many days of uncertainty, but each day I would see Hopie, and she would offer encouragement and a kind word. I was grateful for her uplifting attitude and how she blessed my dad and me with hope during his darkest hour.”
Stefanie Bradley, Supervisor of Environmental Services, Mount Sinai South Nassau, is familiar with Hopie’s ability to spread hope. “I am grateful for the compassion and human connection Hopie provides for patients and families,” she says.
Hopie says she begins each day determined to spread optimism to every patient she meets.
“I want to help patients by bringing a ray of light into the darkness that can surround them when they are a patient,” she says. “I want to see them smile.”