Their story is our story.
A quiet song of caring for Grace
This story unfolds in a “cold, stark” and soon-to-be darkened EKG room at St. Charles Bend. The descriptive words of the location came from a letter of thanks received from Grace’s parents.
Grace, just 15 months old, has just endured the beginning of yet another procedure to monitor her heart defect. Six electrodes compete for space on her tiny chest. Both Grace’s arms and legs also have electrodes attached to them. The wispy cords attached to the electrodes lead to the machine in the room’s corner; its blinking digital readings soon to be the only source of light in the room. The machine will produce a report allowing Grace’s doctors to study the action of her heart muscle.
A veteran of multiple diagnostic pricks and probes, Grace is terrified of medical procedures and the people who perform them. EKG technicians Jeff Caba and Bill Keale know it’s important to Grace to do what needs to be done as quickly as possible. Thus inspired, their voices join in a quiet song:
Twinkle, twinkle little star,
How I wonder what you are,
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky …
They got a clear EKG reading on their first try from a relaxed and reassured little girl.