At Caris Healthcare, our mission is to provide Hospice Care with Grace. Our Three Most Important Things (TMIT) program helps ensure this mission is grounded in the day-to-day care provided to each patient. TMIT is based on a basic—even obvious—question, “what are the Three Most Important Things we need to know about you to provide excellent care?” This simple method of understanding each patient has become the foundation of the highly personalized care for which Caris is known. It has become Caris’ benchmark to ensure we meet the needs of our patients, no matter how unique or individualized.

During a visit with a newly admitted patient, a Caris nurses’ aide learned that one of his Three Most Important Things was to have a tattoo removed or covered up. He said he was ashamed of his tattoo and didn’t want to go to heaven with it on his body.

Our Caris nurses’ aide reached out to a local tattoo artist. She explained the patient’s deteriorating condition and his desire to have the tattoo covered up before he died. Touched by this story, the tattoo artist agreed to cover up the patient’s tattoo—and to provide this service free of charge during one of his days off. Caris employees worked together to arrange transportation to bring the patient to the tattoo artist’s studio. The patient was delighted to have his tattoo covered up and was most thankful for all of the help and support of his Caris team.