I Got Caught In Charlotte’s Web

2015-07-12 11.29.28

 

I have to share this great story about a nurse called Charlotte.

When Dad was in the Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH) we had a nurse look after Dad who showed a special warmth and compassion towards him. I remember asking her at the time if she was a ‘country girl’ as she was so open and caring. Charlotte is what I would describe as a real traditional nurse in every way.

As a family we warmed to her in the RAH, and one day on her shift she ‘broke Dad out’ of the locked ward and took him and myself to the hospital cafeteria. Dad then felt like dancing in the middle of the café and chose Charlotte as his partner. It was an awesome scene to watch a nurse (in uniform) and patient (in dressing gown) ‘rock and roll dancing’ in the middle of a café with no music, in front of everyone else without a care in the world. (I may have video of it somewhere)

As I could tell that Dad had really warmed to Charlotte I took plenty of pics of them together. I think we probably ‘bent’ a few hospital rules that day, but Charlotte was totally cool with it.

Anyway here comes the twist in this story…..

The best photo I took of Charlotte was the the one above. I loved the pic as it captured a ‘special moment’. The day Dad was transferred from the RAH to the Repat, I went in to ask Charlotte for permission to use her pic on my websites. Unfortunately she was not in the ward that day and I have never seen her since. I then had a decision to make – do I use her pic still? I took the gamble thinking Australia is a big place, and she will probably never ever see it.

Sure enough her boss at work comes across my website and recognizes her picture and tells her. So Charlotte checks herself out on this site and then joins the ‘Dementia Downunder” Facebook group. I had no idea who Charlotte was when she joined (a few months back) and today it “clicked”. I realised that Charlotte was the nurse from the RAH in my pic…..she found us!

I thought I better come clean and ask her permission about using her pic, even though it has been on the net for 6 months. Luckily she was more than happy to.

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