Above and Beyond: Sharing Stories About Acts of Kindness from Staff
In honor of National Nurses Week, May 6-12, 2025, here are seven powerful stories about care teams that showed compassion for patients — and one another.
// By Melissa Sher //
Maya Angelou famously said, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” This sentiment rings especially true for health care organizations. In a field where compassionate, patient-centered care is at the heart of a hospital’s mission, it’s important to show a community how staff members bring these values to life.
One of the most powerful ways to demonstrate compassionate care is by sharing stories that reveal the tangible heart behind your hospital’s work through small and large acts of kindness and compassion.
Here, we highlight some of these stories from hospitals around the country, including:
- Nurses who created forever memories for the families of patients with late-stage cancer
- The care team that threw a patient a wedding, using sheets and sutures to make her dress
- The team that staged an art show for a patient in a children’s hospital
Read on for these and other stories about acts of compassion by care teams, and then consider how you can uncover and share moments taking place at your organization.