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Health & Fitness

Kaiser Permanente San Jose goes extra 5,000 miles for patient

Last wish honored with symbolic journey to Japan

                78-year-old Patricia Snow always wanted to travel to Japan, but somehow, the devout Bay Area follower of Buddhism never made the trip.

                “She was always doing for us and not for her,” says her adult daughter Tani Snow. Tani, 46, and her brother Kenji, 51, were sitting in a sun-lit patient lounge at the Kaiser Permanente San Jose Hospital, reflecting on their mother’s life, and how a Kaiser Permanente Respiratory Therapist named Debi Quick helped their mom make at least a symbolic journey to Japan, after a series of health reversals.

                “Mom had valve replacement surgery at Kaiser Permanente in 2012, and she was doing great for more than a year,” said Tani.  “But an infection with pneumonia this year irreversibly damaged her heart.”

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                Patricia was hospitalized at Kaiser Permanente San Jose in the 7th floor “step-down” unit. Patricia’s heart was failing, and her outlook wasn’t good.

                “She was having trouble breathing, so that’s why I was involved,” said Debi Quick, Respiratory Therapist at KP San Jose for 14 years. Quick was part of a team of physicians, nurses and others caring for Patricia Snow on what would inevitably be her final days.

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                “Everyone here was an angel to my mom,” says daughter Tani. “My mom had the best care in this unit, and they treated us, the family wonderfully.”

                To further cheer their mom Tani and Kenji visited San Jose’s Japantown to buy some ethnic items for her. They found some Buddhist prayer beads, and a tiny jade Buddha figurine, named “Hotei”, which “lived” on the windowsill of Patricia’s hospital room, when she wasn’t holding it.

                One day, while Debi was in the hospital room, Tani casually mentioned her mom’s big disappointment never making a trip as a devout Buddhist to Japan.

                “Debi just lit up, and said her musician son-in-law was traveling to Japan the next week,” Tani laughed. “Debi asked mom if there was anything personal her son-in-law could take with him.”

Then Tani says her mom lit up, and pointed with a smile to the Buddha statue on the windowsill.

Hotei, she said.

                In moments, Debi got her son-in-law on his cell phone and he agreed to carry the little jade Buddha to his concert tour of ten cities in Japan.

                “I felt somehow this was more than a concert trip, more significant,” said Daniel, as he held the tiny jade figurine in outstretched palm.

                Martinez took photos of Patricia’s Buddha in 10 Japanese cities where he performed. Returning, he presented the photos and the Buddha to Tani and Kenji Snow.

                While Daniel and the Buddha figurine were traveling, Patricia Snow died.  But Tani, Kenji, Debi and her son-in-law believe they helped her make at least a symbolic---and possibly spiritual trip to Japan.              

“This is a magical place,” said Tani.



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