Penny Pittard Maroldo, of Oberlin, Ohio, most recently worked as a Home Care Nurse. In retirement, she volunteers at a free clinic doing patient intake.
Comfort in the Final Moment
A small car sped across three lanes of traffic, right into the path of a tractor-trailer. Drivers watched in horror as the big rig collided with the car, spinning it in the wrong direction on the expressway. The driver of the car was slumped down sideways under the steering wheel. The truck driver, a young man about 20 years old, was in shock as he got out of the truck. “There was nothing I could do to stop,” he kept repeating.
Two witnesses rushed to help, calling 9-1-1. Then without even thinking, a Spartan Nurse jumped out and ran to the car hoping to get him out of his vehicle and start CPR, but she could not get the door open. The window was open a few inches—just enough so she could touch his arm. He was breathing, and he had a pulse. Waiting for the police and ambulance to arrive, she stayed with him, her hand on his arm, telling him she would not leave him alone.
A few moments later he took his last breath and passed away with Penny Pittard Maroldo comforting him on a six-lane highway that summer morning of 2001.
Nursing Knowledge and Training Goes into Overdrive
Once help arrived for the victim of the accident, Maroldo turned her attention to the young truck driver. She sat with him and listened as he talked and cried; his body shook uncontrollably. She instructed him to take deep breaths and shared her assessment that the man probably had a heart attack or stroke at the wheel of the car.
“I could not have done any of this without the nursing knowledge and training I received at MSU. I felt confident. I knew what to do, and I acted,” she says.
Going the Extra Mile to Take Care of the Whole Person
Maroldo found the name of the accident victim in the obituaries a few days later and contacted his wife. “I sat with her at the funeral home and assured her that her husband was not alone when he took his last breath. She was grateful.
“At MSU, we were taught to take care of the whole person, that they were never the ‘appendectomy in room 211.’ Every patient care plan had to address all the health and social needs — including the family’s needs. This has stayed with me all through my career and I always went the extra mile,” Maroldo says.
“Though that terrible accident happened years ago, I will never forget that I had the privilege to be with a fellow human being at the moment of his death, and knew what to do to comfort him, even if there was no way to save him,” she adds.
Maroldo now volunteers at a free clinic in Lorain County Ohio doing patient intake. “Even in retirement, at nearly age 70, there will always be ways to use my nursing skills,” she says. “I don’t think you can ever stop being a nurse.”