CU Nursing - Spring/Summer 2020 - 13

13

COLLEGE

the family's last months together, she said.
While all of the hospital providers' care
was "exceptional" (the cleaning woman
"sobbed" when she heard Ferguson died),
the nursing staff really moved her husband,
Henritze said.
"They treated Scott as a real person. They
treated him like a friend," she said.

Scott
Ferguson
and Darice
Henritze
share
a laugh
together.

'I WAS HOPING TO HEAL EVERYONE'
Her "funny" and "gregarious" husband, who also treasured quiet time, cared so deeply
about other people that more than one tribute on his CaringBridge site credited him
for saving someone else's life.

"But I think he inspired them, too," she said
of Ferguson, who was a popular gym owner
in his mountain town of Breckenridge,
where he coached everyone from Olympic
athletes to troubled teens.

"He was so taken by his nurses, he wanted to help patients behind him experience the
comfort of compassionate care. And he wanted to help kids like Brian," Henritze said.
Ferguson's gratitude and positive attitude were so profound, it affected many nurses'
perspectives, including theirs, Schenk and Dorsett said.

A RECIPROCAL, POWERFUL RELATIONSHIP

"Darice and Scott together were such
genuinely good people, and even though
Scott was going through this terrible point
in his life, they really cared so much about
everybody else," Schenk said. "Sometimes
I felt like they were taking care of us more
than we were taking care of them."
Brian Dorsett, CNA, assigned to Ferguson
during one of his early hospital stays, said
he forged a bond with Ferguson he will
never forget.
"Scott had a very bright personality,"
Dorsett said. "Even when I wasn't assigned
to him, I would always walk over to his
room to talk to him," he said. "For someone
who was going through what he was going
through ... I only wish that I could have
been that positive and that nice to people."

'YOU JUST NEED TO KEEP FIGHTING'
Dorsett and Ferguson shared a unique
connection. Having suffered a massive
brain hemorrhage that resulted in chronic

"I told Scott I kept fighting through the heartache of it all, and that I knew that I
was here for a reason," Dorsett said. "I cried with him at his bedside many times,
because I knew where I was when I was in that place. I told him: Scott, you just
need to keep fighting, even to the end."
Dorsett, influenced by his own nurses during his own hospital stay, told Ferguson
his goal was to become a nurse. And that's how the scholarship idea was born,
Henritze said.

Because of her husband's caring nature,
Henritze said she thinks the nurses' genuine compassion inspired Ferguson.

Ferguson's family, which included his then
11-year-old son, touched all of the nurses
who knew them, said CU Nursing alumna
Margo Schenk (BSN, '17). Schenk manages
the Medical/Surgical Progressive Care Unit
at University Hospital.

seizures at age 15, Dorsett understood the life-and-death struggle that Ferguson
was experiencing. Hospitalized for six months, doctors did not expect Dorsett to live.

A nurse
takes care
of Scott
Ferguson
during his
stay at
UCHealth.

"We work in critical care, and that can take a big toll," Schenk said. "Scott and Darice
made me realize how unique of a position we are in to be able to care for people in
the worst times of their lives and how much of an impact we really can make outside
of just the medical side of it."
"Going into nursing, I was hoping to heal everyone," Dorsett said. Now, he focuses on
giving patients hope, he said. He believes that hope gave Ferguson - his melanoma
diagnosed too late - more time. "That's what motivates me to come back to work every
day," Dorsett said. "I think about Scott every day."

"YOU GAVE HIM TIME - BEAUTIFUL TIME'
Ferguson died in the hospital, surrounded by his
"family," both the real version and some of his
newfound one. His last words, mouthed to his son,
were "I love you," said Henritze, who has remained
close with the nurses since her husband's death.
In a letter, she thanked the nurses for "creating
a safe place" and for sharing their smiles. "Scott
loved to say that a good laugh is sunshine in the
house," she wrote. Henritze said she hoped her
letter served as both a gift and a reminder for the
nurses Ferguson cherished.
"Your purpose for today is that person in the
room who needs your care," she wrote. "It doesn't
matter whether they live or die. For today, they
are alive, and they need a glimmer of sunshine.
You were never going to save Scott ... but you gave
him time - beautiful time."
CU Nursing - Spring/Summer 2020

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