Clothing not optional

Originally published by ENA Connection, the magazine of Emergency Nurses Association

Philly Nurse Fills Aftercare Need With ED Clothing Cache

By Shelly Strom, ENA Connection Contributor

Nurses often choose a career in health care because they want to make a difference in patients’ lives.

That’s why nurses are routinely and tirelessly going above and beyond to try to meet the needs of the people they serve. It’s why Eddie Welsh, RN, a staff nurse at Jefferson Frankford Hospital in Philadelphia, led efforts to establish a clothing closet for patients in need at his hospital and at two others within the Jefferson Health system.

One rainy day in 2016, Welsh had nothing more than paper scrubs to offer a patient in need of clothing.

"It’s embarrassing to me," Welsh said in a Philadelphia Inquirer article published in October.

"I’m a nurse. We fix the sick, we feed them, we shelter them. I was like, ‘Man, what can I do as a nurse to help this guy?’" See the article on ENA’s site. For complete text, contact me.