Caring - Dartmouth-Hitchcock

4
Every February, the hummingbirds begin
their trip back from their winter home in
southern Mexico. The journey takes them
more than two months to complete, and
when they finally reach their destination
Joyce Langevin, RN, is waiting for them.
“I follow a hummingbird Web site to
track their migration,” explains Langevin.
“If they pass through Mississippi by
April, I tell the patients to start looking for
them around May 5th or 6th.”
For nearly ten years, Langevin, a
nurse in the hematology/oncology unit at
DHMC, has been treating patients, families,
and staff to the beauty and acrobatics
of the tiny, ruby-throated birds, and by
doing so has helped to create an environment
of care that attends to minds and
spirits as well as bodies.
Beginning a Tradition
“It started with a leukemia patient that I
was caring for,” says Langevin. “Her
family put a hummingbird feeder on her
window to cheer her up, and she loved
it.” When the patient finished her treatment,
the family asked Langevin if she
wanted to keep the feeder. “I said
‘sure,’ thinking that other patients might
enjoy it as well.”
Langevin assumed the job of cleaning
and filling the feeder, and began learning
more about hummingbirds on the Internet.
“Then I got a patient with tuberculosis who
was admitted for 30 days and became
very depressed,” she says. “I decided to
buy another feeder for her window to
cheer her up. She loved it, too.”
Langevin managed to buy a few more
each year and eventually placed one on
every window in the unit, except the radiation
area. “I also put several on the
patio and one on the window where the
dialysis patients sit—now we have a total
of 28 hummingbird feeders,” she says.
A Labor of Love
The weekly process of cleaning and
refilling the feeders during hummingbird
“Hummingbird Lady” Brings Joy to Cancer Patients
“The birds serve as a
frequent distraction or
diversion from whatever
is bothering the patients
physically. It gives them
something else to think
about, and something
to look forward to.”
season—which runs from May to September—requires
special care to keep
the birds coming back, says Langevin.
“We have a double-bucket system
now,” she explains. “It takes about an
hour and a half with my husband and I doing
it together. We clean the feeders with
a vinegar-water solution, rinse them with
fresh water, and refill them with a four-toone
sugar mixture that I prepare myself—I
find the birds like it better than the red
granules you can buy at the store.”
“The feeders must be kept clean,” she
cautions. “You don’t want fungus growing
in them. If the birds get it on their
beaks, it can kill them.”
At the end of the season, Langevin
removes all of the feeders, cleans, and
stores them at her home in Enfield Center.
“Sometimes, I have to replace the
suction cups and occasionally the feeders
break and need to be replaced. People
in this community are very
generous—they’ve sent checks in the
mail to help pay for new ones.”
Bringing Joy to Patients
For Langevin, bringing joy to her patients
doesn’t end with the hummingbirds. “We