DAISY Award—Erin Magaletti
Erin Magaletti | Hospice Care
Nomination story: I would like to nominate Erin Magaletti with the UC Davis Hospice Team for the Daisy Award. Erin showed extraordinary compassion and care for my spouse and her family through her final days while under hospice care. Each day she visited, she was concerned about how she was feeling, what her pain level was and offered her all the options to treat the pain. When she was talking to my bed-bound wife, Erin would get down on her knees to be eye-level with her. Erin would hold her hand and talk to her directly to find out how she was feeling both physically and emotionally. She is a great nurse and a wonderful person to have in the hospice program.
She was even more incredible in her final days. On the final day, she awoke and told me she was done and wanted to end it all. My wife had applied for the MAID program and had just completed that process and had the medicine in the house. When Erin arrived for her daily visit, she asked the same two questions she always did; Are you in any pain? Do you want to take the MAID? She was in pain and told Erin that she did want to take the MAID on this day. She said to her, “So you’re taking back control” and my wife smiled in agreement. Erin asked us if we had a plan. I asked her if she could help us come up with one, since this was such a heavy decision for us. We discussed the situation and came up with a plan to start the process later in the afternoon. I then asked Erin if she could help us through the process, because I did not think I could correctly do this without some guidance. I gave my wife the anti-nausea meds around 4:00 pm, consistent with our plan. Erin returned around a little after 5:00PM. She walked us through the final steps, making sure we all knew that once she took the cocktail, there would be little time for goodbyes. We said our goodbyes, including Erin. Then Erin mixed the cocktail and did some swallowing tests with my wife, using water, to make sure she could down the cocktail. When she was sure that she could drink the cocktail, she poured it into a glass and gave it to me. I handed the glass to my wife, and she downed the drink herself in three good gulps with some good coaching from Erin. In a couple of minutes, she was unconscious and remained that way until everything quit working a couple of hours later. It was a very peaceful death, and I am so thankful for that. Erin stayed until my wife was gone then stayed after that to make sure that we were all OK and the necessary forms were filled out.
Erin did everything with a wonderful attitude. I can’t tell you how valuable her assistance was that night. She is an incredible person and a wonderful resource. Death with dignity and grace was a goal I wanted for my wife and Erin helped bring that to fruition. I will always be in awe of her service.