Compassion at its Core
What makes Arroyo Grande Community Hospital special to the people who work there? The people that work there. A hospital is just a building, but Arroyo Grande Community Hospital is an environment of hope and warmth. It is made up of nurses and staff who are kind, compassionate, and caring. That environment proliferates and spreads throughout the community. Arroyo Grande Community Hospital proves that a little something extra, even a small act of human kindness, can change the world. As a nurse at Arroyo Grande Community Hospital, you are never isolated or alone, you are a vital part of a greater whole; a hospital whose staff truly define the meaning of community.
The Covid pandemic dramatically changed the world. Many nurses across the country have experienced burnout following that perilous time, often resulting in high turnovers and career changes. Fortunately, for our local community, the nurses at Arroyo Grande Community Hospital tell a different story. Working here is more than a job, it is a shared passion for excellence and community binding the staff together. Arroyo Grande Community Hospital stands as a vestige of kindness and warmth in a sometimes cold, disconnected medical environment. Nurses are the “community,” in the namesake. The hospital and its staff value gentle gestures of human kindness seeking to create precious moments for patients that extend beyond individuals into our community.
Ann Landers writes, “Warmth, kindness, and friendship are the most yearned-for commodities in the world.” The friendship and camaraderie that the nurses have with one another truly warms the heart and soul of so many. When asked what makes Arroyo Grande Community Hospital so special, Bonnie Matthews RN, recalls, “Being a smaller hospital affords us the ability to personalize patient care." We cherish precious moments in life in order to provide warmth and comfort. Andrew Del-Feirro RN, says, “AG Hospital’s ‘special sauce’ is, undoubtedly, its people. I think that the kindness and warmth with which staff treat each other is so strong that our patients experience the overflow in their care. Special emphasis on ‘community’ in a ‘community hospital’, after all!” Its nursing staff believes human connection leads to better health and recognizes that it is in the subtle gestures of human kindness that one finds comfort for the soul. Arroyo Grande Community Hospital’s nurses, and all its staff, provide the warmth and community that so many on the Central Coast seek. It is a self-perpetuating gift both to each other and our patients flowing beyond our walls into our beloved community.