{"id":70180,"date":"2026-03-19T14:16:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T21:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/?p=70180"},"modified":"2026-03-19T14:16:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T21:16:17","slug":"blooming-kindness-compassion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/news\/blooming-kindness-compassion\/","title":{"rendered":"Blooming Kindness &amp; Compassion"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article\">\n\t<header class=\"header\">\n\t\t<span class=\"type\"><\/span>\t\t<h1>Blooming Kindness &amp; Compassion<\/h1>\t\t<time>March 19, 2026<\/time>\n\t<\/header>\n\t<div id=\"block_882325dc9f7a5d365c5908c1e87a7926\" class=\"shs-block block-news-article entry-content\">\n\t\t<div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"acf-innerblocks-container\">\n\n<p><strong>W<\/strong>hen Family Nurse Practitioner <a href=\"http:\/\/How one provider cultivates healing at Samaritan\">Karen DuBois<\/a> joined Samaritan, she brought more than decades of hematology and oncology experience \u2014 she also brought a garden full of compassion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>About eight years ago, DuBois found herself at a crossroads in her work as an advanced oncology certified nurse practitioner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe patients I see are often uncertain of their prognosis and no one looks forward to meeting with an oncologist or hearing difficult news,\u201d she said. \u201cI wanted to do something where people are happy to see you. I wanted to make people smile.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>DuBois decided to combine her two passions, flowers and caring for patients. She began growing flowers from seed and cultivating blooms for both their beauty and healing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI bring a bouquet for each patient I see during flower season,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is healing for me, and it makes people smile, especially on their worst days.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Her floral gifts have become a quiet but powerful extension of her care. From June through November, patients, nurses and front desk staff receive vibrant arrangements, often consisting of dahlias, DuBois\u2019s personal favorite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For DuBois, pictured above with some of her beautiful blooms, these moments of connection extend far beyond the flowers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhen you care for a patient facing a cancer diagnosis or blood disorder, you walk alongside them and their families for months, sometimes years,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is through these relationships that I gain a greater understanding of my patients\u2019 needs beyond their disease.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The opportunity to create those deeper connections is what drew DuBois to Samaritan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHere, we treat more than just the disease, we care for the whole person,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Compassion Beyond the Clinic<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>DuBois hosted her first plant sale at her home in Newport. She met her goal of $1,000 and proceeds went to Pacific Communities Health District Foundation\u2019s CAN Cancer Fund.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMy patients are often affected by financial burdens beyond treatment costs,\u201d she said. \u201cProceeds from my plant sale support non-medical expenses, like helping pay the power bill or buy groceries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Finding Balance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLife is busy,\u201d DuBois said. \u201cWe all need to just stop and smell the flowers and pause to live in the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Learn more about DuBois and her approach to patient care, at <a href=\"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/patients-visitors\/find-a-doctor\/dubois-karen-1124571799\/\">samhealth.org\/bio\/kdubois<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<aside>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"360\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Karen-DuBois-blooms-CO.jpg\" class=\"attachment-cta size-cta wp-post-image\" alt=\"Nurse Practitioner Karen DuBois holding bouquets of flowers.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Karen-DuBois-blooms-CO.jpg 360w, https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Karen-DuBois-blooms-CO-300x250.jpg 300w, https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Karen-DuBois-blooms-CO-120x100.jpg 120w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 360px) 100vw, 360px\" \/><\/figure>\t\t<\/aside>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/article>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Learn how one Samaritan provider cultivates healing with flowers and compassion. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":70181,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","_shs_workflow_notes":"","_shs_exclude_from_navigation":false,"_shs_promote_article_on_blogs":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"news-topics":[293],"news-types":[272],"services":[229],"specialty":[54],"class_list":["post-70180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","news-topics-wellness","news-types-news","services-cancer","specialty-hematology"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70180"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70182,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70180\/revisions\/70182"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70180"},{"taxonomy":"news-topics","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-topics?post=70180"},{"taxonomy":"news-types","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-types?post=70180"},{"taxonomy":"services","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/services?post=70180"},{"taxonomy":"specialty","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/specialty?post=70180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}