Dear Editor:

Although this letter is primarily praising the nurses at Powell Valley Hospital, I also wish to thank everyone who cleaned my room, brought me a food tray, peeked at a computer or picked up a stethoscope on my behalf.

I learned a lot from the band of nurses at Powell Valley Healthcare during my extended stay there. So here is my sage advice: When the world poops on you, pees on you and vomits all over you, as on occasion it surely will, quietly clean up the mess and say softly, “Is there anything else I can do for you?”

When I first arrived at PVHC, I felt like Blanche DuBois in Tennessee Williams’ play “A Streetcar Named Desire,” who, when asked how she’d managed all the years, she replied, “through the kindness of strangers.” That’s how I felt, but gradually those strangers turned out to be trusted caretakers and friends. I will be forever grateful for your unconditional grace — you few, you very few, you band of nurses.

Wayne Kassar

Powell