The Intensive Care Unit, a very curious place: human being above all, health and well-being… and humanity, that great little detail, a bit of side. Perhaps maybe because of the concentration and fine pulse that requires constant care, a space between the human and the human being is created. Medicine is responsible for the care of the body, and humanity to care for the soul… spiritual aspects as important as perhaps underestimated… until these situations happend to remind us of how much the soul weighs in our day to day.

Ailín, 17 years old, was admitted to the ICU on November 5th, 2016  with a diagnosis of myelitis, staying critically ill during several days, even with ventilatory support. Thanks to the jealous care of the ICU team, and by her unwavering will, she managed to remain disconnected to the ventilator, but because of her diagnosis remains immobilized and tracheostomized.

She keeps in her belly a beautiful treasure: Oseías, with 27 weeks of gestation, is guarded as a pearl  by all the team. It is the fruit of love with her partner, Mauricio, who with unwavering love, is always next to her, encouraging her recovery, awaiting that sublime moment of consummation of their love…

They are planning to marry at the end of 2017, but Ailin condition ahead of the target, and in that moment… Stands out the humanity of the human…A Beau Geste borns

Mauricio decides to change the date of the wedding: January 27th will be the date. A swirl of happy activity runs by the ICU: Dr Ramaciotti, next to the medical Myriam Martial, manage the relevant permissions, with Dr. Erika Zelaya,  Dr. Cristina Juarez, Dr. Tania Azanero and the Nurse in Chief Silvia Colqui who invites to all the staff, which making gala of their huge sensitivity move all the logistics possible: the dress, make-up artists, hairdressers, decorators of salons, photographers, publishers of videos… Resources flow to the enthusiasm…

Obviously, a new of such wingspan cannot pass unnoticed, and from the corridors of the ICU expands by the hospital: there are physiotherapists excited with the idea and several people of the establishment approach offering their help.

Each one is a part and give shape to the dream…

Medical staff brings the bouquet, Nursing Coordination dresses and shoes the bride, radiant to choose wedding witnesses as two nurses and the medical head of the ICU, as a corollary of a single moment, who also will be accompanied by two patients in the ICU as bridesmaids.

The chasiretes are ready, filming is already, nobody wants to be away from that moment, when magic flows, when the “Yes I want” is present… Accomplices smiles, tears of emotion wherever you look … What is human, humanity, so pervasive, shows us how important it is, not only inside, but out of ICU, which shows not only as the guardian of the health of the patient, but as a shelter and solace of the community… A beau geste, a human, humanity.

Hospitality – as Nouwen says- is the ability to cater to the guest. All the team is ready to receive within the ICU to the family of our patients and to understand that not only we are willing to cure their wounds, but through empathy we can help in moments so important as these.

We are invited, at the end, to humanize the accompanying transcending what our senses see, giving way to the transcendent dimension to which Dürckheim tells us that we can access privileged by the contemplation of nature, by art, by prayer, worship and the way privileged, in my opinion, of the meeting of quality, an empathetic and compassionate meeting. We can grow this last especially since compassionate hospitality and the human factor.

[1]

By Marcelo F. Morales and Rodrigo M. Rivero

Hospital Padilla. Tucumán. Argentina

[1] BERMEJO, JC. Empatía Terapéutica. MAIOR. España. 2°ed. 2014