When Robert Hall Jr. and Kathy Hayn decided to get married once and for all, after a long delay forced by the COVID-19 pandemic, they wanted to tie the knot the next day.
The wrinkle: Hall, 69, was a patient in the neurosurgery unit at Carle Foundation Hospital Tower 9B. His brain surgery was just three days away.
“He was having surgery, and he was worried and just wanted to get married,” Hayn, 60, said.
Enter Carle Tower 9B: neurosurgery team and wedding planners.
“This is the third wedding for a Carle Tower 9B patient this year and fourth in the past four years,” Amy Hammerschmidt, RN, CMS-RN, manager for Carle Tower 9B and 9A, a medical/surgical unit, said.
“What I love about our CT9 team is they care for patients with compassion, whether it’s getting a patient a cold glass of water or helping them plan a wedding,” Hammerschmidt said. “It’s automatic for them.”
Newlyweds have known each other for years
Hall and Hayn live in Newtown, Ind., and have known each other since she was in high school.
“We both got married, both of us lost our spouses and we reconnected as friends on Facebook,” Hayn said.
Their relationship blossomed and they set a wedding date. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. They postponed the wedding.
“We put it on the back burner,” Hayn said.
When Hall was in his room in Carle Tower 9B on Oct. 17, with Hayn at his side, “I just asked her,” Hall recalled.
“It was the best possible scenario,” he said.
Hall was scheduled, on Oct. 20, to have a craniotomy, a surgery in which a portion of the skull is removed to take out a brain tumor. He was nervous and wanted to get married the next day, Oct. 18. Hayn accepted.
“Patients on the neurosurgery unit sometimes get sudden diagnoses that can be life-threatening or life-limiting,” Hammerschmidt said. “They’re not sure how they will come out after surgery. If they’ve already been planning a wedding, they may decide to move up the date.”
Hammerschmidt said a nurse practitioner texted her on Oct. 17 that a patient wanted to get married the next day.
“I introduced myself to the patient and asked, ‘How can I help?’” Hammerschmidt said. The couple said they wanted to get married, and Hammerschmidt offered the hospital chapel, the garden, or the Heart and Vascular Institute (HVI) lobby. The couple chose the HVI lobby because its huge windows let in a lot of sunlight.
CFH Tower 9B has helped plan four weddings in four years
At each of the four weddings of Carle Tower 9B patients in the past four years, the involvement of Carle Health team members has varied, based on patient and family needs and desires. Hammerschmidt said. Carle Health team members have done everything from providing a minister from Spiritual Care, supplying the wedding cake, buying flowers from the gift shop, hiring a photographer and decorating a patient’s wheelchair.
“We meet the individual needs of each patient,” she said.
“We care for patients during the hardest time of their lives,” Hammerschmidt said. “Dr. Mostafa (Wael Mostafa, MD, PhD, brain and spine surgeon) has said that brain surgery is one part of patients’ healing. The other part is our team showing them our Value of Compassion and our love of community.”
The wedding and surgery were both successes.
For the Hall-Hayn wedding, their families, led by Hall’s daughter-in-law, Brittany, did most of the planning. The Carle Tower 9B team secured the space in the HVI lobby, received permission from Dr. Mostafa, who was to perform Hall’s surgery, for Hall to leave the unit long enough for the wedding, and provided a team member to escort him to the HVI lobby and remain there until he was back in his hospital room.
Brittany Hall bought matching tuxedo T-shirts for the groom and his sons. About 30 relatives and close friends attended the Oct. 18 wedding in the HVI lobby.
“It was very good,” Hall said.
Hall called the support of the Carle Health team “excellent.” In addition to the team member accompanying Hall, Dr. Mostafa also attended the wedding.
“They went out of their way to help us,” Hayn said. “They didn’t need to do everything they did.”
The support of the Hall and Hayn families and the Carle Health team spoke to the wedding photographer, Gaby Villaseñor of Champaign.
“What I encountered was far more significant than just a wedding,” she said. “I discovered love, compassion and a community so welcoming that it transcended a mere favor to a friend. It was an honor to be a part of that moment.”
Dr. Mostafa performed the surgery Oct. 20, and discharged Hall just two days later.
“I feel much better,” he said.
“We really do appreciate everything from Carle,” Hayn said. “We got really good care. We couldn’t ask for anything better.”
“This is why we’re here,” Hammerschmidt said. “These aren’t jobs to us. It’s our life’s work.”
That life’s work has meant the world to Hall and Hayn.
“We’re going to continue down the road of wedded bliss,” Hall said.
The wrinkle: Hall, 69, was a patient in the neurosurgery unit at Carle Foundation Hospital Tower 9B. His brain surgery was just three days away.
“He was having surgery, and he was worried and just wanted to get married,” Hayn, 60, said.
Enter Carle Tower 9B: neurosurgery team and wedding planners.
“This is the third wedding for a Carle Tower 9B patient this year and fourth in the past four years,” Amy Hammerschmidt, RN, CMS-RN, manager for Carle Tower 9B and 9A, a medical/surgical unit, said.
“What I love about our CT9 team is they care for patients with compassion, whether it’s getting a patient a cold glass of water or helping them plan a wedding,” Hammerschmidt said. “It’s automatic for them.”
Newlyweds have known each other for years
Hall and Hayn live in Newtown, Ind., and have known each other since she was in high school.
“We both got married, both of us lost our spouses and we reconnected as friends on Facebook,” Hayn said.
Their relationship blossomed and they set a wedding date. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. They postponed the wedding.
“We put it on the back burner,” Hayn said.
When Hall was in his room in Carle Tower 9B on Oct. 17, with Hayn at his side, “I just asked her,” Hall recalled.
“It was the best possible scenario,” he said.
Hall was scheduled, on Oct. 20, to have a craniotomy, a surgery in which a portion of the skull is removed to take out a brain tumor. He was nervous and wanted to get married the next day, Oct. 18. Hayn accepted.
“Patients on the neurosurgery unit sometimes get sudden diagnoses that can be life-threatening or life-limiting,” Hammerschmidt said. “They’re not sure how they will come out after surgery. If they’ve already been planning a wedding, they may decide to move up the date.”
Hammerschmidt said a nurse practitioner texted her on Oct. 17 that a patient wanted to get married the next day.
“I introduced myself to the patient and asked, ‘How can I help?’” Hammerschmidt said. The couple said they wanted to get married, and Hammerschmidt offered the hospital chapel, the garden, or the Heart and Vascular Institute (HVI) lobby. The couple chose the HVI lobby because its huge windows let in a lot of sunlight.
CFH Tower 9B has helped plan four weddings in four years
At each of the four weddings of Carle Tower 9B patients in the past four years, the involvement of Carle Health team members has varied, based on patient and family needs and desires. Hammerschmidt said. Carle Health team members have done everything from providing a minister from Spiritual Care, supplying the wedding cake, buying flowers from the gift shop, hiring a photographer and decorating a patient’s wheelchair.
“We meet the individual needs of each patient,” she said.
“We care for patients during the hardest time of their lives,” Hammerschmidt said. “Dr. Mostafa (Wael Mostafa, MD, PhD, brain and spine surgeon) has said that brain surgery is one part of patients’ healing. The other part is our team showing them our Value of Compassion and our love of community.”
The wedding and surgery were both successes.
For the Hall-Hayn wedding, their families, led by Hall’s daughter-in-law, Brittany, did most of the planning. The Carle Tower 9B team secured the space in the HVI lobby, received permission from Dr. Mostafa, who was to perform Hall’s surgery, for Hall to leave the unit long enough for the wedding, and provided a team member to escort him to the HVI lobby and remain there until he was back in his hospital room.
Brittany Hall bought matching tuxedo T-shirts for the groom and his sons. About 30 relatives and close friends attended the Oct. 18 wedding in the HVI lobby.
“It was very good,” Hall said.
Hall called the support of the Carle Health team “excellent.” In addition to the team member accompanying Hall, Dr. Mostafa also attended the wedding.
“They went out of their way to help us,” Hayn said. “They didn’t need to do everything they did.”
The support of the Hall and Hayn families and the Carle Health team spoke to the wedding photographer, Gaby Villaseñor of Champaign.
“What I encountered was far more significant than just a wedding,” she said. “I discovered love, compassion and a community so welcoming that it transcended a mere favor to a friend. It was an honor to be a part of that moment.”
Dr. Mostafa performed the surgery Oct. 20, and discharged Hall just two days later.
“I feel much better,” he said.
“We really do appreciate everything from Carle,” Hayn said. “We got really good care. We couldn’t ask for anything better.”
“This is why we’re here,” Hammerschmidt said. “These aren’t jobs to us. It’s our life’s work.”
That life’s work has meant the world to Hall and Hayn.
“We’re going to continue down the road of wedded bliss,” Hall said.
Categories: Culture of Quality
Tags: foundation, hospital, mission, neurosurgery, nursing, values, vision, wedding