OhioHealth Hardin Memorial Hospital Associates Unite to Help Coworker Honor her Late Mother

When Amanda Conkel's mother, Judy Harris, went through cancer treatment her job allowed her to be by her mother's side.

Conkel works as a patient support assistant at OhioHealth Hardin Memorial Hospital in Kenton. That's also where her mother spent several years receiving care as a cancer patient.

“It just made things a lot less stressful," Conkel said.

Conkel has a passion for helping all patients. But of course, when it’s your mom, it’s different. 

Inside the hospital every so often – you can hear a bell ring three times. It’s to celebrate a patient’s completion of treatment. 

“She had talked about ringing that bell," Conkel said. 

For Conkel and her mom, the sound of the bell was motivating. 

“She’s like, ‘I’m going to beat it I’m going to beat it,’" Conkel said. “She wanted to ring that bell.”

But for Conkel the bell now serves as a painful reminder. 

“It kind of crushed my heart,” she said. “She wanted to be loud and proud that she beat it.”

It’s a bell that her mother will never ring. Judy passed away in April. 

“Her mom wanted to ring that bell so bad," said Ryan Newland, administrative nurse manager, Hardin Memorial Hospital. “The infusion staff said, ‘we should have let her ring the bell. That’s all she ever wanted to do was ring that bell,'”

Amanda’s team had an idea. 

“I said, ‘Amanda, you will ring that bell and we’ll make sure you do get to ring that bell,’" Newland explained.

So, one afternoon in June a small, private ceremony was held for Amanda to ring the bell in honor of her mom. 

Feelings of regret were reversed with each ring. Each ring let out a sound that they hoped was heard from heaven.

“She’s cancer free guys!” Conkel shouted after ringing the bell.

“Healing looks different for everyone and for some it’s healing in this lifetime or it’s healing in the next lifetime where there’s no more pain and there’s no more tears,” Newland said. “It may be hard to lose someone here on this earth but there’s a place that they can celebrate and suffer no longer.”