My daughter had numerous admissions to the children’s hospital between the months of November 2011 until December 2012. This included too many surgeries to keep track of. We had the utmost privilege of having Dr. Mark Holterman involved in her care from day one. Not only was he relentless in finding the cause of her pain, he was also relentless in keeping her happy and safe.
After a major surgery, Steph asked why he left his starbucks in the hall. He stated that it wouldn’t have been polite to drink in front of her since she was NPO. He then offered to bring her one when she could drink again and asked her favorite kind. The next day, he asked his PA to get Steph what she wanted. Around noon, Dr. Holterman himself showed up in our room with the Starbucks she had ordered, that he personally had went and purchased. Talk about making a kid’s day and a good doctor/patient relationship scaled to the next level.
It is just the little things in life that keep it human in the medical world.
We are forever grateful for those little things that mean so much to a teenager trapped in pain and in the hospital
M.L.
OSF St. Francis Medical Center
