Chippewa County Hospice Nurse Snowshoes to Help Patient at Home

February 26, 2019

A Chippewa County hospice nurse is being called an “angel in snowshoes” for her choice to help, despite one of this year’s worst winter storms.

“It’s the third time that they have closed the actual health department due to weather in 23 years,” Hospice of the EUP Nurse Nancy Miller, said.

Huge snow drifts, blizzard-like conditions and impassable roads. Enough to stop most, but not those who care for the most vulnerable.

“Something I think we have here at hospices is a ‘can-do attitude.’ If somebody has a need we don’t say no, we say how we can do that,” Miller, said.

On Monday, Miller was called in to help.

“We got a call from a hospice patient who really needed to have a nurse visit and the nurse that was working that took the call lives in Brimley about 20 miles away. She called me she knew I lived fairly close to this patient and asked if i could go over,” Miller, explained.

“I said sure, I can do that and I went outside and realized we had a lot of snow,” Miller, added.

So Nancy strapped into this pair of snowshoes and made the near half-mile walk to the patient’s home.

“It was still snowing it was still windy. It took a good 15 minutes. They needed a nurse there, I left there feeling good that I was able to help them, I think they felt reassured that I was there,” Miller, added.

At the end of the day, Nurse Miller is still pretty humble about her new nickname, “Angel in snowshoes.”

“I’m sure that if I couldn’t have done it our director would have found someone to get a snowmobile out here to get to that patients house,” Miller, said.

“This is bittersweet, I love having the attention for hospice and the Chippewa County Health Department, but the patient was the important person here, I shouldn’t be getting all the attention,” Miller, added.