Nurse remembers deceased patients with EKG print

MURRAY — When families lose someone they love, nurses say they feel the pain, too. That’s why a registered nurse in Intermountain Medical Center’s respiratory intensive care unit took it upon herself to come up with a special way to remember those who have died.

Lisa Beglarian prints off an EKG strip of the patient, carefully rolls it up, and inserts it into a lab tube. She then gives it, accompanied with a note, to the late patient’s family.

“May my heartbeat always be a gentle reminder of the love I have for you,” the note reads.

Beglarian said she wanted families to walk away with something positive.

“It tells a story of the patient — it’s something of their life and their legacy,” she said.

The nurse said she first came up with the idea about a year-and-a-half ago while scouring Pinterest, and it has now essentially been adopted by her entire unit.

“You know, we’re human as well,” Beglarian said. “It affects us, too, and we really do care about the patients and their family members as well.”

Beglarian said the small remembrance has been well-received by families.

“Some are very tearful and have really appreciated it — especially, I think, for our younger patients who unfortunately have passed on,” Beglarian said.

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