Following are excerpts of vignettes from CHRISTUS Schumpert Health System’s Service Angel program recognizing Associates for going above and beyond the call of duty and making small “miracles” occur, one day at a time.

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Demetrius Willis gives a lot to patients in his role as a registered dietitian, but giving them his shoes isn’t normally a part of his duties. However, when a patient Demetrius was counseling explained that his own shoes had recently been stolen, that’s exactly what Demetrius did.

“I felt bad for him,” Demetrius explained. When he found out the patient wore the same size shoes as his very own, Demetrius remembered two pairs of gently-worn Nikes sitting at home in his closet. The next day, he brought them to the patient.

“He was so happy,” recalled Demetrius.

A month later, Demetrius heard a familiar voice as he made his rounds on another unit of the hospital. It was the patient that formerly had no shoes—but this time he had a familiar pair of gently-worn Nikes at his side.

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At a height of 5-foot-10 with a muscular build, CHRISTUS Schumpert Wound Center Occupational Therapist and Wound Specialist Tim Jones might not be your vision of a guardian angel, but to a patient named John, he absolutely fits the description.

John was visiting the hospital for a routine therapy when he began bleeding excessively. Jones and Occupational Therapist Darren Arant jumped into action, putting pressure on the wound, calling the patient’s surgeon and calling a code. The patient estimated that Tim continued to hold pressure on the wound for about 30 minutes and walked with him from the clinic to surgery, holding on to him the entire time.

The patient said he felt he was dying and prayed what he believed to be his last prayer. Tim’s calmness, confidence, assurances and eye contact helped him through the ordeal, he said, adding that he felt God placed Tim with him.

“All we could do was hold on and not let go,” Tim said. “I’m just thankful he was here when it happened.”

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When CHRISTUS Schumpert Business Office Associate Susan Doughty visited a patient from Natchitoches while making her daily rounds, she noticed that he was clad with an uncomfortable, well-worn pair of blue jeans that he had been wearing under his hospital gown. Everything about his care at CHRISTUS Schumpert had been great, he told Susan, except for having to wear the thin hospital gown. Being somewhat modest, the patient said that what he really wanted most was a pair of pajama pants to wear under the gown.

The patient had arrived at the hospital by ambulance wearing the blue jeans several days ago. With no relatives or friends close by, he had not been able to get his pajamas from home and had been wearing the jeans under the hospital gown this entire time.

Susan decided to stop by WalMart that evening and buy a pair of pajamas for the patient. When she brought them to the man the next day, he was quite appreciative and offered to pay for them, but Susan would not allow it.

For Susan, her reward was recognized through doing a good deed. “I just felt wonderful that I could help,” she explained. “I feel very blessed.”