As the kid of a retired nurse, this story warms my heart. A nurse in California was surprised to find herself reunited with a former patient -- then, just 29 weeks old -- now, a pediatric resident at the same hospital.
Nurse Vilma Wong has worked in the NICU at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford for 32 years. She had been caring for patients alongside Brandon Seminatore, a second-year pediatric resident, when she remembered once being the primary nurse to premature baby with the same last name.
They both quickly deduced that Brandon was, indeed, Vilma's patient almost three decades ago.
It turns out that Seminatore's mother, remembering Wong's care, had told him to look for a "Vilma" in the NICU. But he thought it was pretty unlikely that he'd find her, assuming she'd already retired. Apparently not.
"I was in shock initially but overjoyed to know that I took care of him almost 30 years ago and now he's as a pediatric resident to the same population he was part of when he was born," Wong tells Babble.
The hospital's Facebook page posted a photo of Vilma and baby Brandon, circa 1990, alongside a photo of their reunion last month. The post, of course, has since gone viral.
Originally from Nicaragua, Wong came to the U.S. when she was 16, and earned her BS and MS degrees in nursing. Her first job was at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford, and she's worked there ever since. While not all babies grow up to be doctors, and few get to come back and say thank you, consider the hundreds upon hundreds of preemies that have been in her care over the last thirty years. It's beautiful.
Shout out to all the nurses.
More here: NICU Nurse Stunned to Learn She’s Working Alongside One of Her Patients, 28 Years Later
