IMC nurse at Reston Hospital locked in on compassionate care

Latasha Riley, RN, IMC has worked in healthcare since the age of twenty but just celebrated her year anniversary as an RN on May 1, 2025. She admits that she is a nurturer, but a short time ago, she questioned whether she could handle the emotional toll of caring for critical care patients. However, after going above and beyond for a more recent patient, she knows she is in the right place on the IMC unit!

Earlier this year, an unhoused patient known to the unit, was admitted again, but in addition to his sickle cell diagnosis and experiencing several strokes, he had to be put into isolation for lice and bedbugs. She volunteered to take this patient, knowing how lonely he must have been in the room all by himself.

“For three weeks, I cared for him. I had to don a bunny suit, but I spent hours in his room cleaning and washing him, stripping his bed. When I was in there, I would always take my phone to let him choose the music he wanted to listen to while I treated him,” Latasha said. “I made sure when his food was dropped off by the room that I took it to him while it was still hot and gave him my phone number so he didn’t have to ring the bell.”

Despite his treatment, it was recommended that he cut his hair to hopefully avoid the infestation continuing, but this patient was very connected to his dreadlocks.

“It is difficult for other people to understand, but dreads are like life from a culture perspective. I knew they were a part of him,” she relayed. “So I talked with him for days to make sure he was ready and offered to cut them and shave his head myself.”

Without the necessary tools at the hospital, Latasha went out and bought shears and a hair clipper herself. With the help of a tech on the unit, they worked painstakingly to remove all of his hair as he cried.

Since all of his clothing had been bagged and thrown out, Latasha purchased clothing for him so he didn’t have to be discharged in a hospital gown. Moved by her compassion, other colleagues on the unit chipped in and the patient left with a suitcase full of things to call his own.

When trying to reimburse Latasha for her generous act of kindness, she refused saying, “I want to do this for him.  I wanted him to feel good and I don’t want anything in return.” 

It is colleagues like Latasha that truly remind us of our calling to “care like family.”