Evelyn Hunt

Evelyn Hunt was an employee of Grace-New Haven and Yale-New Haven Hospitals for 38 years. She worked in the operating room as a scrub nurse for many years and then worked in Central Sterile Supply. People who worked with her knew Evelyn to be hard working and fair. As a manager, she expected no more from the staff than she demanded of herself. When there was more work than usual, or if there was a problem, Evelyn could be found working side by side with the staff to remedy the situation. She would not hesitate to pitch right in; there was no job that she would not do because it was “beneath her” or “someone else’s job.”

What a lot of people did not know was that in addition to her usual duties, Evelyn performed a service that was not found in any job description. Whenever she knew that a relative, friend, acquaintance, friend of a friend, friend of a relative or even a church member was going to have surgery, she would go to meet that person as they waited for their operation. There she would sit and talk, pray or encourage them before they went into the operating room. Many were afraid, and she would talk to them about their procedure, telling them how they were being taken care of by the best doctors possible and that things would be fine. If someone was alone, she would wait with that person; she felt that no one should be alone if they did not want to be. She would visit the patients after surgery and make sure that they knew they were “doing just fine.”

In 1995, Evelyn was diagnosed with cancer. She was now the patient undergoing surgery in the same hospital where she had spent so much time working and encouraging others. She received outstanding care and was treated like royalty by the many staff members who knew her—and even those who did not. I will not begin to list their names for fear that I will leave someone out, but I will never forget the concern and care that she received during her many hospital stays that followed her surgery. Her recovery was difficult, but she went through it with grace and style.

In spite of all that was done to try to save her, Evelyn passed away on October 24, 1996. The love and respect from those who knew and worked with her continued after that day, and extended to include her family. Some of the Yale-New Haven Hospital staff even held a pie sale, and the proceeds were presented to Evelyn’s three grandchildren, Terrence, Jason and Stacy. Anyone who knew Evelyn knew how precious these three were to her, and she would have been extremely humbled and honored to know that they had received this special gift.

My brother, Kevin, and I will never forget how our mother’s co-workers in Central Sterile Supply embraced us and treated us as part of their little family. As an employee of the Yale Medical School, I still see many of these people every day and am always greeted warmly and cordially. While I know that this is largely due to the fact there is a great group of people in Central Sterile Supply, I also know that their welcome stems from their memories of my incredible mother.

Thank you again for allowing me to share with you my little piece of Yale-New Haven at its very best during one of the most difficult times in the life of my family.

Sharon Dawson
Department of Laboratory Medicine