Widow: BMH nurse an 'angel of God'
When Richard Foust, 82, succumbed to leukemia on Thanksgiving at Butler Memorial Hospital, his shaken wife was glad that registered nurse Shawna Alben was assigned to his case.
“She showed so much love and compassion and care for him,” said Sally Foust, of Saxonburg. “It was like he was the only patient in the hospital, and that hospital was full.”
Thursday is National Nurses Day, which is the perfect time to highlight Alben's compassion in caring for Richard Foust and his wife.
Alben works on 5 Main's telemetry unit at BMH, where she has been employed for four years.
She graduated from Mercy College of Ohio in 2017 with her registered nurse degree, and in 2020 earned her bachelor's degree in the field.
Alben started out in art school, but felt a calling to pursue her family's vocation of nursing.
Sally Foust will be forever grateful for that turn of events.
When her husband became ill a few days after returning home from a 12-day stay at UPMC Shadyside Hospital for chemotherapy, he was admitted to Butler Memorial.
Foust had to come straight to her husband's room to visit and not come into the hall unless she was leaving the hospital, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Alben was working her second 12-hour shift in two consecutive days when Foust made the hardest decision of her life, and she's glad that Alben was there.
“He got really bad, and I agreed to take him off all life support, and she was so kind,” Foust said of Alben. “I really can't even describe it. I couldn't have asked for anyone more compassionate than she was.”
Foust said although pandemic protocol did not allow hugging, she could feel Alben's arms around her as her husband slipped away over a matter of a few days.
“There were other good nurses there, but she just stood out,” Foust said. “My feeling was that she was an angel of God right there with me.”
Foust told Alben, “God knew what he was doing when he made you a nurse.”
“Butler Memorial Hospital should be very, very proud to call her an employee,” Foust said. “She was just so gentle and caring with my husband. I just can't say enough about her.”
Karen Allen, chief nursing officer at Butler Health System, said the hospital's nurses have always demonstrated skill and compassion, but the pandemic has brought out the very best in them.
“Each and every day in hospital rooms, the nurses are out there at the bedside making a difference in people's lives,” Allen said. “I am humbled to work with such a compassionate group of nurses.”
Foust and Alben have not spoken since Richard Foust's stay at Butler Memorial Hospital, and Alben was surprised to hear Foust extoll her nursing skills.
“I'd mostly be there with him when (his wife) couldn't be there, but when she was there, I just couldn't leave her all by herself,” Alben said. “I didn't want her to go through all of this alone.”
Alben, of Worth Township, said loss on her telemetry floor has been difficult during the pandemic, as only one or very few family members are allowed inside the hospital.
“Being a nurse is more than just assessing patients and giving medicine,” Alben said. “It's about having that compassion and empathy. We're not there only for the patient, but also to support family members.”
She admitted that working to comfort the dying and their families is exhausting because she must be strong even though the scene is always heartbreaking.
“Sometimes it's just not saying anything at all,” Alben said. “There's no definitive words that can help heal somebody who is losing a family member, but just knowing you're there if they need to talk or need somebody to be there during that experience, that's satisfying.”
She said many nurses remain strong yet compassionate in the room where family members are saying their final goodbyes, then break down in tears when they leave the room.
“I work with a great team or nurses and aids,” Alben said. “We are all there for each other.”
She is surprised Sally Foust remembers her, given the trauma of losing her husband.
“I don't see myself as an angel on Earth,” Alben said. “Even on your hardest day, that is what makes nursing rewarding, not even realizing the impact you have on somebody else's life.”
