Infusion Nurse Jolie Bellemore, BSN, RN, has some experience with American Sign Language (ASL) from college, and was excited to use her knowledge when she was paired with a new 13-year-old patient who was Deaf. However, as Bellmore attempted to converse in sign language with Honoka Kobori, both of them quickly realized that they were not using the same signs.
In fact, the young girl and her family had recently moved from Japan to the United States. Her mom, Saori Kobori, explained that Honoka had grown up using Japanese Sign Language (JSL). While Bellemore was able to communicate with the Kobori family through a medical interpreter, she was determined to make a closer connection.
With every one of her patients, Bellemore tries to see the situation from their perspective. She knew how isolating it could be to face cancer in a new place and at such a young age, and she worried that this was all compounded by their language differences. Instead of becoming discouraged, Bellemore and her patient committed to learning from each other.
“We’re going to figure this out,” Bellemore recalls telling herself.
Making a difference with small gestures
Their communication began with little words – like when Kobori first met Opry, the Jimmy Fund Clinic’s facility dog, and she made two ears by bringing her hands up to her forehead. This was the Japanese sign for dog.
Slowly, their own shared language developed – a combination of Japanese and American sign languages. After receiving CAR T-cell therapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia, Kobori, who recently turned 14, now receives regular blood and platelet transfusions.
Bellemore wanted to find a way to talk about platelets because their infusion meant adding another hour to her appointments. Neither Bellemore nor Kobori knew the sign for platelets. Instead, because the platelets have a yellow appearance, they combined the signs for “yellow” and “blood.”
Communicating in this way has created a close bond between Bellemore and Kobori.
“She is so smart and she is such a joy,” Bellmore says, smiling as she describes Kobori’s ever-present giggling and the kisses she blows to the Jimmy Fund Clinic staff. “It’s been amazing to get to know her and learn from each other.”
Nursing care that is meant to be
For Bellemore, this is the kind of connection she hoped to make when she decided to become a nurse. It’s a powerful feeling to experience just a year and a half into her nursing career, and she credits it to the many people in the Jimmy Fund Clinic who made her work possible.
Before she became a nurse, Bellemore worked in the Jimmy Fund Clinic as clinical assistant while she completed her nursing degree at Northeastern University. She knew from her first day that this was where she wanted to work when she graduated. It was Elephant Day – a part of the clinic’s annual Zoo Week – and she and her colleagues donned elephant ear headbands.
“We all looked a little ridiculous, but it felt like everyone was coming together to try and make the best out of a really difficult situation,” Bellemore recalls. “I absolutely fell in love with the Jimmy Fund Clinic and the patient population, building relationships with them and their families, and really getting to know them from a clinical standpoint but also who they are as people.”
Bellemore was elated to be accepted to the Jimmy Fund Clinic’s first pediatric nursing track in the Oncology Nurse Residency Program, a one-year program designed to support new graduate nurses as they transition to practice in oncology. She was immersed in the world of oncology nursing at Dana-Farber, taking oncology-specific courses and shadowing pharmacists, physicians, nurse practitioners, and medical interpreters, but of course, the most valuable lessons came from the mentorship of fellow nurses.
“I got to learn from the best,” Bellemore says. “This village of nurses went above and beyond to help me and my fellow new grad to flourish and become the nurses we’ve always wanted to be. I owe them everything.”
As evidenced by her efforts with Kobori, Bellemore is now an example of the ways strong nurse-patient relationships can build trust and communication. By being connected to a patient throughout their journey, she is able to develop a deep understanding of their needs, and in this case, even learn a new language.
This relationship is what has helped Bellemore learn about Kobori’s preference for bandages with flowers on them, the joy she gets from watching gymnastics videos on her iPad, and about her trips to Red Sox opening weekend, the Franklin Park Zoo, and Newport, Rhode Island.
“This is what I’ve always hoped for,” Bellemore says. “When I was in nursing school and someone asked me what I saw myself doing as a nurse, it’s exactly this. It’s so fulfilling to have this connection. When I wake up in the morning and know that she is on my schedule, I’m so happy to be at work and to get to see her. It makes me so proud.”