Vivian Hays is grateful for the care her sister and family received at multiple Centra locations.
As a retired nurse whose career spanned almost three decades, a nursing agency and multiple hospitals, Vivian Hays knows good care when she sees it.
“And that’s what I saw with Jessica at Centra,” shared Vivian, who traveled to be with her sister, Jessica Branch. “I can’t stop talking about it. In fact, I’ve been telling everyone how good the care is there.”
In addition to excellent clinical care, what really stands out, according to Vivian is that each and every person the family encountered went to great lengths to make sure they were well cared for and had what they needed. From her perspective as someone who has worked in healthcare but not with Centra, the Caregivers “are simply amazing.” At Centra, everyone is a Caregiver no matter their role.
“Everyone is so attentive and kind. They treated my sister like she was the only person there and truly special. When they come to the room it’s ‘how are you, can we get you anything, can we do anything for you.’ They really listen. It wasn’t just one moment where the care stood out as exceptional. There were a lot of moments. You don’t always get that kind of care everywhere.”
According to Vivian, the high level of care and attention to detail was present across her sister’s care journey at multiple Centra hospitals and the Rosemary & George Dawson Inn.
The newly renovated 20-room inn, made possible by donor support, is near Centra Lynchburg General Hospital and provides affordable lodging to patients, or family and friends of patients, who are receiving medical care at any Centra location. Vivian relied on the Dawson Inn to be close to her “baby” sister, whom she calls her rock, while she was receiving care.
“We experienced exceptional care from doctors, nurses, nursing assistants, a nurse practitioner, housekeepers, those delivering the food, the case manager and everyone at the Dawson Inn,” Vivian said. “I don’t want to leave anyone out. Wonderful doesn’t cut it. It’s so much more. They really, really worked with us to make sure she got the very best care.”
Knowing both the joys and challenges of serving patients and families, she wanted to make sure to say thank you and express her appreciation and gratitude in as many ways as possible since “those in the healthcare profession always hear about the negative but don’t always get the positive.”
To say thank you, she nominated several Centra Caregivers for Daisy and Tulip awards, and shared her Gratitude Heals story with the Centra Foundation.
“I laugh now because I had a lot of misconceptions coming from a larger area,” Vivian said. “I didn’t know anything about Centra, but now I will continue to tell everybody how wonderful it was. I would go to any of the doctors she had. I tell people they don’t know what they have there. We could not be more grateful.”
Have you or a loved one received excellent care at Centra? Saying ‘thank you’ and expressing your appreciation by sharing your personal words of gratitude can uplift your dedicated team of Caregivers, be a powerful part of the healing process, inspire generosity and impact patients. Visit CentraFoundation.com/Gratitude.
Share your story
