One of the hospice patients I visited today greeted me with these words, “I knew you were coming”.  I was surprised because this patient and I have arranged that I don’t need to call ahead to schedule my visit.  Most of my visits to other patients are scheduled, so visits to her stand out by that dynamic alone.  I was intrigued and asked her how she knew I was coming.  She replied, “It is Wednesday, and that is the day you visit.  I also want to hear about your birthday”.  Now she really had my attention as I had not mentioned my birthday on my last visit.  It turns out one of  the nurses told her about how we celebrated it the previous week at our Team Meeting.

This patient really enjoys my visits and since it was my week to see her she just knew I would be there..  Sometimes I wonder if I am imagining how much patients benefit from my visits.  Then I have one like this visit and I know my visits produce benefit.  I learned from this visit that making time and going to see someone who is not able to travel to see others makes a big difference.  I have been doing some visiting on my own time to people from my church.  They are surprised but glad to see me.  So if you want to have positive effect on someone you know why not visit them, share kindness, and listen to what they are telling you.  By giving them your time you are giving them a gift that is priceless!