Stroll down the main hallway into the critical care unit at Tidelands Waccamaw Community Hospital and the many messages scribbled on the massive hanging whiteboard are likely to catch your eye.
“Thank you so much for your care….”
“My loves… I am forever grateful…”
“Thank you for being such a blessing to our community…”
Nearly 20 messages of gratitude, support and appreciation from patients and their relatives – each copied from thank-you letters and scribbled in different shades of blue, red or green marker and neatly arranged like a work of art – consume the roughly 12-foot-long white board, creating a visual testament to the team’s dedication, sacrifice and skill serving our community.
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“When you see that on the wall, you say, ‘Wow,’” says Nathan Mattox, director of the critical care unit at Tidelands Waccamaw. “It’s pretty powerful.”
Mattox came up with the idea of repurposing an existing whiteboard into a wall of thanks a few weeks ago. With a stack of letters and thank-you notes in his office, Mattox figured writing the messages on the board would be a constant reminder to his team of the important work they do serving our community.
“We wanted the team to see those words and know the patients appreciate them and support them,” Mattox says.
Uplifting reminder
It’s been a crucial reminder after the long days and emotional moments health care workers have endured over the past 18 months amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Like other hospital caregivers, the CCU team not only provided high-quality medical care but also stepped in to comfort patients in the absence of loved ones amid visitor restrictions and COVID-19 isolation.
The wall of thanks has become a sense of pride on the unit — a reminder of the quality care the team provides, says Jeffery Timmons, a registered nurse on the unit who pauses by the board at the start of his shift.
Mattox plans to regularly update the messages when new ones arrive to keep the wall of thanks fresh. He has plenty of appreciation notes from patients to choose from.
Timmons finds himself stopping by for a pick-me-up when needed.
“I love to go and just read the board,” he said. “It makes you happy. It makes you feel good.”
