Hear Me Now is a storytelling program at Providence, created in partnership with StoryCorps. Hear Me Now’s mission is to give patients, loved ones, and caregivers a sacred space to share their stories and make healthcare more humane.

Contact [email protected]

All Providence Interviews

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Shawn Sorbom and Mary Sloper

Mary Sloper (78) talks to Shawn Sorbom (28) about going to boarding school at age 5 in Imperial Valley, Californiia, her Croatian mother, and her career as a nurse.

Vinny Fox & Henry Fox

Vinny knew from an early age they were non-binary. They didn't have the language, but knew that in their conservative city in Georgia, being non-binary meant being ostracized and punished. It wasn't until college that they had any positive gender...

Sham Najjir & Ahmed Pierstorff

Ahmed & Sham, share stories about Ramadan, the month of fasting and Eid al-Fitr, the breaking of the fast, and the role these holidays play in their Muslim faith and lives.

Joseph Lopez & Scott Acord

Joseph shares his story as a troubled youth leading to being incarcerated 5 times before handing his life over to Jesus, and turning his life around. He now has a thriving closet business in Southern California and in his spare...

Mike Hayes, Emily Peters and Scott Acord

Emily shares her experience of being the eldest of 4 children whose father died when she was 12, just 6 yrs after her mother died. Emily, had been the only mother her siblings knew and when they moved their aunt...

Carl Lunn and Deborah Lunn

Carl and Debbie share some stories of Carl's early years, then their life together, married for 50 years. Debbie skillfully redirects Carl's answers when his memory is challenging him to recall details.

Sauleiha Akangbe & Safia Alakbar

Sauleiha manages the Just Birth program for Swedish in Tacoma. She spoke with her sister, Safia about the importance for this work and how it benefits the Black, Indigenous and Asian Pacific populations of her community. She also talked about...

John-Paul Ramirez & Montserrat Archila

John-Paul and Montserrat about growing up in the U.S as members of the Latin-A, (LatinX, Hispanic, Latino) community, not fitting into a box and sometimes feeling ostracized by the Latin-A communities as well as they communities where they lived, worked...

Bob Butzerin & Ann Martin

Bob, a charge nurse for long term care at Providence Mount St. Vincent (The Mount), share some of his memories from his 30+ years at The Mount. He says The Mount is about family and community. His wife is a...

Armand Zoulika and Mary Peterson

Armand shares with hospice chaplain Mary the meaning of Ramadan and the challenges of coming together as a community in person during COVID and shares his sorrow at the death of his mother and how he bakes to remember her.

Holly Campbell-Polivka & Bentley Fox

Holly talks about being an advocate for her trans son and how that led her to bedoming a member of several PFAC (Patient Family Advisory Council) groups before she found one at the Institute for Human Caring that was advocating...

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Harriet Thompson, Mollie Mana'o, and Nora Nielsen

Harriet Thompson (96) speaks with her friend and chaplain, Mollie Mana'o (44) about how they first met when Harriet had come into hospice, her recovery from cancer and their ongoing friendship.

Liz Farber and Justyna Raszewska

Liz, long time Providence caregiver reflects on her journey to become a social worker and how her spirituality has helped her serve hospice patients

Miriam "Merry" Bauch & Katy Abelson

When the war broke out, Merry's father and brother were sent to concentrations camps where they were killed. She was sent to a separate camp from her mother, but managed to find one another later in Zakopane, Poland after the...

Ligia Andersen and Kira Karinen

Ligia and Kira, RN's with Providence Elderplace, share why they chose nursing, what keeps them loving the profession and working at Providence. They talk about how they coped with the challenges and anguish of Covid19 as well as supporting staff...

Allan Komarek & Melody Fawcett

Allan is the recipient of the 2021 nursing Leadership Award and a conversation ensues that provides Allan an opportunity to share his story and view on leadership, philosophy, nursing career, and discrimination towards being gay.