Portrait of a Tender (#10) - Mei Ling - UVA Breast Care Center

When Mei Ling was 20 years old, she sat at her dad's bedside as he lay dying of lung cancer in the hospital.  She watched as the nurses came in and out, tending to him best they could.  One day, shortly  before he passed away, she told him "I'm going to be either a teacher or a nurse."  She decided on nursing after having had so much experience interacting with them while her father was ill.  

She graduated from nursing school in 2000 and worked in the special care newborn nursery at SMJH for 15 years.  In 2020 Mei Ling began a different role in women's health care working  at the UVA Breast Care Center.  Women diagnosed with breast cancer come to this center for their chemotherapy.  Nurses like Mei Ling are in charge of administering the chemotherapy infusions and caring for the patients while they are there.

During the pandemic, patients were not allowed to bring their support people with them to their appointments due to infection risk.  This was particularly difficult for patients with a recent cancer diagnosis.  "Chemo is scary anyway, but to have to do it by themselves was so sad and made us all feel bad." 

There is a tradition at the Breast Center  called  "The Bell Ringing" where patients celebrate their last chemo infusion by ringing a bell and all the nurses  line up to hug them.  With necessary Covid restrictions in place, hugging was no longer permitted.  Mei Ling and her colleagues were not to be deterred and designed a work around that they coined "The Big Warm Hug".  They used extra warm blankets and wrapped them snugly around their patients as a comfort measure.  "It is a little thing we can do" to show they care.