10 Hospital Workers Who Prove Kind Heart Is a Powerful Medicine

In hospitals, acts of quiet kindness can make a world of difference. From nurses noticing small discomforts to staff going the extra mile, these moments show how empathy and attentiveness improve the patient experience, build trust, and sometimes even impact recovery in ways medical care alone cannot.

1.

• My husband had surgery. His night nurse barely came in. When I asked her to adjust his pillow, she snapped, “Can’t you do it for him?!” I reported her.
  Later, I confronted her in the hallway. But my jaw dropped when she glared at me and said, “I apologize if I seemed cold. I focus completely on medical safety. I’ve seen too many complications missed because staff were distracted.” It was professional care, not coldness.

2.

• “I had a patient, a big guy with hypoventilation syndrome in IM clinic. He was visibly uncomfortable, breathing loudly, and you could tell he was just so sad. He had been laid off from his security job after a recent hospitalization and struggled with some housing issues.
  I sat with him for a while and just listened. There was nothing pressing medically for me to do, but he was lonely and obviously needed someone to talk to. I genuinely felt for the guy. He was crying quietly and said, ‘Thank you for talking to me.’
  I felt like I had actually done something helpful for him, and wanted to give him a big hug.” © Fartyparty24 / Reddit

3.

• “A patient broke down crying after her appointment and thanked me for just listening to her. Honestly, I had no idea what was wrong with her, but I just listened and asked questions and it made her very happy.” © Unknown author / Reddit

4.

• I thought the janitor was avoiding my dad because he never made eye contact and always cleaned our room last. I was already exhausted and annoyed, sitting there night after night while my dad slept after his stroke.
  One evening, I snapped and asked if we were in his way. He quietly refused, which made me even more furious, so I reported him.
  The next morning, a nurse told me he’d been coming in early every shift to mop our room first, before my dad woke up, because the smell of disinfectant made him anxious. Apparently my dad had mentioned it once, barely able to speak, and the janitor remembered.
  I never saw him again after discharge, but my dad still talks about “the guy who listened when I couldn’t talk.”

5.

• “I showed up to the hospital for my first shift as an ER volunteer. Went to the front desk and asked where the ER was. The lady behind the desk saw my volunteer shirt and said, ‘God bless you. You are so precious, can I have a hug?’
  So me and this 60-year-old black lady long-hugged for about 15 seconds in the hospital lobby. There’s nothing quite as comforting as a black lady’s hug. I was 30.” © DoctorBaw / Reddit

6.

• “This happened to a friend of mine. After a difficult encounter, he went outside the patient’s room, sat on a bench in a hallway, and just started crying.
  One of the cleaning staff just sat next to him, put his arm around him, and let him lean on his shoulder. It was all body language-guy didn’t say a single word. He respected the silence, then when the time came they both stood up and went back to work.” © MinimalConjecture / Reddit

7.

• I thought the orderly, Marcus, was the laziest guy on the surgical ward because he’d disappear for thirty minutes every time he was supposed to wheel a patient to radiology. He’d always come back looking disheveled and distracted, barely making eye contact with the nurses.
  Yesterday, I followed him when he took my anxious younger brother down for an MRI. I expected to find him doing something crazy. Instead, I found him in the empty “Quiet Room” near the scanners, doing high-energy, silent “theatrical” mimes through the glass for a terrified six-year-old girl in the next bay.
  I realized then that his “slacking” was actually a calculated risk; he was intentionally taking the long route and racking up reprimands just to distract the pediatric patients who were too small to understand why they were being put into a loud, scary machine.

8.

• “I have a very, very lengthy chart from being in the medical system for so long. One time I had to go to a neurologist. As they took my information and pulled up my chart, their jaw dropped. They stopped typing, turned in their seat and spoke to me.
  They expressed their empathy, praised me for my recovery, acknowledged the pain, and then gave me a hug. It was the first time I felt like I was being treated as a human in the medical field. I was used to having doctors/nurses treat me as their job/lab rat.
  This experience has stayed with me since. I treasure that stranger deeply. They also helped solve my mystery diagnosis after three years.” © Unknown author / Reddit

9.

• “I wasn’t actually sick and just needed a sick note for an exam. My usual doctor was on holiday so I went to his replacement and it was this really eccentric old guy. We just had a really pleasant conversation for like an hour about our time living abroad, my thesis I was writing at the time, literature, etc.
  Then he gave me the contact information of a bunch of people that might be able to help me out (got a job out of one of them) and made me promise to give him a copy of my thesis once I was done.” © Unknown author / Reddit

10.

• “My favorite is one time when I was surprisingly terrified before a surgery (I’ve had so many I’m usually okay now) and I was shaking really bad as the doctors and nurses prepped around me. After a minute, one of the doctors came over without a word and put her hand in mine reassuringly. She didn’t say anything, keeping her focus on what she needed to do in prep, but held my hand until I was put under.
  I will always remember that moment and how kind she was, noticing my panic without me having to say a word.” © odd_ender / Reddit

These small acts of compassion remind us that human kindness is as powerful as any treatment. Even brief moments of care can leave a lasting impact, bringing comfort, hope, and connection when it’s needed most.
Read next: “12 Moments When Someone’s Kindness Became Their Most Powerful Weapon”