COVINGTON, Ga. — James Lloyd, an 82-year-old veteran, came to Piedmont Newton Hospital in mid-June for cataract surgery. But cataracts were not the only thing troubling him. 

Back at home on Stone Lea Drive in Oxford, his air conditioner had been broken for a month—and a heat wave was coming. 

“I wasn’t sleeping. I’d lay in bed and sweat,” Lloyd said. 

He shared this problem with one of the nurses taking care of him in Pre-Op, Nicki Pollard. She was immediately concerned about the health implications. 

“I didn’t want him ending up back in the hospital for something as simple as not having air,” Pollard said. 

She messaged the Surgical Services department about it, and it wasn’t long before she had enough money to buy a new air conditioning unit for him. Two days after Lloyd’s eye procedure, Pollard and her husband went to his home to set it up. 

“My heart just flows over with gratitude for what they did. It was just amazing,” Lloyd said. 

Pollard was glad to make a difference. 

“It did make me feel good to go out there and help get that in. It made me feel even better that I work in a department where people are willing to help,” she said.