House Supervisor Amanda Cooley was on her lunch break at Cedar City Hospital when she noticed a patient walking down the hospital concourse who had clearly just been discharged from the Emergency Department. He still wore his patient arm band and had some obvious injuries.
“He was limping and wearing the non-skid socks patients are given,” Amanda says. “I asked him if I could help him with anything and he just asked for directions to the café. We made our way to the café together. While I was getting my own lunch, I saw our café manager, Jenna Rock, had also noticed this patient was hurt and needed assistance. She helped him get his lunch and drink. He was worried about cost, and Jenna generously covered the cost for him.”
Amanda went to be seated in the dining area of the café and saw another caregiver starting a conversation with the patient.
“Naia Ursua, who is an operating room supplier, asked the patient why he didn’t have any shoes,” Amanda says. “The patient said he’d been in a car accident and had lost them. Naia asked him what size he wore. The patient said he wore size 11. Naia replied, ‘Hey, these are a 10.5. Try these on.’ And then, Naia literally took the shoes off his feet and gave them to this patient. The patient adamantly said he couldn’t take them, but Naia insisted, saying he lived just around the corner and had lots of shoes, and continued to insist that the patient take them. My heart was just overpouring with gratitude that someone could be so giving. This kind man literally gave the shoes right off his feet and ended up walking out of the hospital in his socks.”
Naia humbly says he did what anyone else would have done.
“I have plenty of shoes and have been truly blessed in my life,” says Naia. “I was glad to be a help.”