Help Ms. Jean Collins- our Healthcare Hero!

My name is Abby Thompson, a Registered Nurse and my husband is Paul Thompson, a hospitalist, and we had the privilege of working with Ms. Jean Collins at Jewish Hospital (UL Health) for several years.

Jean Collins (respectfully known as "Ms. Jean") is 62 years young and has worked at Jewish Hospital (downtown campus), for over 23 years as a Nursing Assistant and Unit Secretary. Beloved by her fellow employees, students, doctors, pharmacists, residents, etc., Ms. Jean has undoubtedly served as the "heart" of Jewish Hospital in ways beyond measure, and now it is our turn to help Ms. Jean and her family.

For 23 years, on the days she is scheduled, Ms. Jean is up before the birds are even chirping, and walks from her home on West Madison to catch the bus and make it in time for her 6:30 AM 12-hour grueling shift. Always a ray of sunshine, as a coworker, she is the first person to greet her fellow teammates at the beginning of the day with her beautiful smile and positivity (not to mention her amazing hair styles). Ms. Jean has worked on several units throughout the hospital, but where I got to know her was in the Intensive Care Unit, or "Towers" as we used to call it. Often our patients were debilitated and on ventilators and various other forms of life support, and Ms. Jean would help support each Nurse in caring for these patients. Do you know how hard it is to bathe several, let alone one patient on life support? A 12-hour shift in the ICU is exhausting and there is no down-time. Regardless of the hurdles each shift would bring, Ms. Jean would approach each day with grace and continue to pour her heart into her passion for helping others.

I'll never forget when Ms. Jean and I cared for a patient with alcohol cirrhosis, who required constant cleaning and care. If you are familiar with people who suffer from this, you will know they do not have a filter. As we were gowned up for the "umpteenth" time, bathing and changing the linens, the patient called Ms. Jean every racial slur imaginable. I was fuming and just so heartbroken that Ms. Jean was yet again subjected to this, and I remember telling her to just let me finish up so she could leave. Ms. Jean shook her head "no" and stayed, and hummed one of her many beautiful gospel hymns, and continued as if nothing had happened. A few days later, this same patient passed away on our shift and there we were together again, she was humming as usual, however this time we were performing post-mortem care. The whole time I thought to myself, "how can she possibly do this after this patient treated her so terribly this whole week?" Right before we were set to transfer the patient out of the unit, Ms. Jean stopped and asked that we pray together over the patient. This was just one of many examples of Ms. Jean's unwavering grace and respect she exhibited while caring for her patients, regardless of the circumstances.

In recent years, Ms. Jean has faced several hardships, despite her incredible work ethic and kind heart. Twelve years ago, she became a widow after her beloved husband tragically committed suicide, and more recently her mother, who she was incredibly close to, passed away. Even with her broken heart, Ms. Jean would still bring her sunshine to work and was more determined than ever to pay off her mortgage and the mountain of medical and funeral expenses that accrued, working over-time, picking up shifts at all hours. Of course... she did it! She is a proud mother of 3, and doting grandmother of 5! One of her son's recently had a cardiac arrest requiring a pacemaker, and is now in severe congestive heart failure, and subsequently unable to work. He now lives with Ms. Jean so she can help care for him. Ms. Jean posted on Facebook not too long ago asking for help to relight her water heater, so my husband, Paul went over to her house to see what was going on. We ended up calling our plumbers the next day to check it out, and the news wasn't great. Her water heater (which is in her kitchen) was not installed correctly, and was not city permitted by the installer- basically she was scammed. Among other things, my husband and the plumber noticed her kitchen floor was "soft" and later found her floor joists were rotting and had diffuse mold throughout. Her refrigerator was malfunctioning, roof of 20 years was leaking, there was sustained damage from her previous water heater chronically dripping. Paul and I both knew we had to help her. We have reached out to several local non-profits numerous times for over 6 weeks, including Habitat for Humanity, and have not heard back, so we are hoping to raise money to help her with repairs of her home and to help offset the burden from her son's medical expenses. Ms. Jean herself is not in the best of health, but she rallies and still catches that bus every morning she is scheduled to work, still spreading her love and joy throughout Jewish Hospital.

There is no one more deserving than Ms. Jean Collins, the truest healthcare hero in our community, and Paul and I are hoping we can raise as much money as possible for someone who desperately needs our help. This beautiful soul has touched the lives of countless patients, colleagues, friends and family members, and now it's OUR turn to touch her life.