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Hello fellow Nurse, this is your weekly handoff. Some quick and dirty nursing news that’s worth sharing. Enjoy!

Something to absolutely not believe

In a story so awful it strains belief, 44-year-old Brooklyn nurse Cherry Cayetano Sobel — a mother of two — was struck and killed by a Maimonides Medical Center ambulance while crossing the street in Midwood on the morning of April 2nd. The kicker? The ambulance driver didn’t stop. Both EMTs aboard have been suspended pending an NYPD investigation into the hit-and-run. It’s a gut-punch reminder that the people we trust to rush help to the scene are still human, and sometimes catastrophically so. Our hearts go out to Cherry’s family and the entire Maimonides nursing community.

Something to make you furious

Just when we thought hospital administrators couldn’t get any more shameless, Alameda Health System in Oakland announced it’s laying off nearly 300 employees starting in January 2026 — including clinical care and support staff — citing the usual “financial sustainability” mantra. Meanwhile, more than 700 frontline nursing positions have been eliminated across Ontario, Canada since January 2025, and London Health Sciences Centre is gutting 200 RN positions while quietly hiring cheaper RPNs to backfill. We’re being told to do more with less, and patients are the ones paying the price. If this isn’t the moment to organize, when is?

Something to make us nurses proud

Now for something to remind you why we do this. Kelly Llewellyn, a nurse at the Tampa VA, was at a softball game with her husband Dennie when he was called over to the scoring booth — where he found a man named Jeff Kleinholz slumped over, unresponsive, and turning blue. Kelly grabbed the AED, slapped on the pads, and delivered the first shock while Dennie started CPR. Jeff survived. In January, the American Heart Association awarded Kelly and Dennie the Heartsaver Hero Award alongside commendations from the Red Cross and the Wildwood Police Department. Off duty, on duty, in the bleachers — nurses just keep saving lives.

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Something from a Subscriber

“I had a sweet little 89-year-old lady on my unit last week who kept asking me to ‘put on the country station, the good one, with the steel guitars.’ I couldn’t find a radio so I just started humming Patsy Cline at her bedside while I changed her dressing. She grabbed my hand mid-verse and said, ‘Honey, you’re flat as a tire — but God bless you for trying.’ I almost cried laughing. Then I called my charge nurse to find an iPad with Spotify because Patsy deserved better. We listened to ‘Crazy’ on repeat for the rest of my shift, and I swear her vitals improved every chorus. Sometimes the medicine isn’t in the Pyxis — it’s in the playlist.” — Maddie R., Med-Surg RN, Tennessee

Please submit all stories to: [email protected]

Please be conscious of HIPAA and omit any PPI or detail that may give hints to the people, hospital, and nurses involved in your story. We may slightly alter your story or change names for this reason. Your story may also be shortened and slightly altered to fit the size of the blog. Happy writing!!

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