Jonathan Pinkard is a 27 year old autistic patient. He collapsed at work in August, 2018. And was in a dire need of medical assistance. Jonathan used to live with his grandmother, till 2012. But then she passed away. And his mother is now in rehab facility. So he had nobody to take care of him. He needed a heart transplant to survive. Without it, he would die. But he also had no support system, so he wasn’t eligible for it.
Seeing the troubles of the patient, Lori Wood came to the rescue. Lori is an intensive care unit nurse at Piedmont Newnan Hospital in Georgia, which is part of Piedmont Healthcare. She was assigned to the care. And after two days of him under her care she decided to adopt him and end his troubles.
Lori stepped up and became the guardian angel of Pinkard. She was happy to do the kind gesture. And in her words “I think at some point God places people [and] situations in your life and you have a choice to do something about it. I guess for me there was no choice — I had a room, I was a nurse, I could take care of him,” she said. “It was just something that had to happen; he had to come home with me.”
Now, Lori who is a single mother lives with Pinkard and supports him as well. He will soon return back to his work on December. Pinkard is grateful to Lori, he said – “She treats me like family. I am very thankful. If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t be the person I am today.”
For her heroic gesture Lori received many recognitions like this year’s President’s Award, offered as part of the hospital’s employee recognition program. She didn’t just do the duty of a nurse but a fellow human and helped Pinkard out.