A Notary in the Nick of Time
It was late afternoon when Gerry Brossart, President of Choice Financial’s Fargo market, received the phone call. It was Sharon*, a Choice customer who Gerry had befriended over the years along with her husband John*. She was distraught.
“John is in the hospital,” she said. “We need to transport him to a different location, but we need the paperwork to be notarized. Is there anything you can do?”
Gerry recognized the panic in Sharon’s voice. He’d been there fairly recently, when his dad was in the hospital.
“Gerry recognized the panic in Sharon’s voice.”
“It’s challenging,” he said. “You think you got things under control, but you don’t. When things start spinning sideways, you think – why isn’t there more help?”
Tasks like getting a notary stamp on paperwork are not top of mind when someone you love is having a medical crisis. Sharon’s husband John has dealt with cancer for years. This year, it got progressively worse. They were in the process of moving John out of the hospital and into residential care when they were told they needed a notary.
Not knowing where to turn, Sharon called Gerry at the bank in desperation. Gerry didn’t hesitate. He grabbed his notary stamp and headed straight to the hospital.
“It’s just a little thing I can do for Sharon to make her feel better,” he said. “I know what she’s going through.”
“It’s just a little thing I can do for Sharon to make her feel better.”
At the hospital, he was met with a grateful Sharon who gave him a big hug. John insisted on paying Gerry for his troubles, a request Gerry waved off with a smile. With the paperwork notarized, Sharon and John could move forward with his transition to long-term care out of the hospital.
Back at the bank, Jane Eisenbeis a Loan Assistant at Choice Financial in Fargo, watched Gerry respond to the situation with admiration.
“It’s not every day that you get to nominate your president for something like this,” she said, adding that, “Choice makes it so easy for us to do acts of service.”
Gerry nodded in agreement.
“When you have to leave in a hurry you know your back is covered at the bank. You know you have the support,” he said. “That’s part of being PeopleFirst.”
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*Names changed for confidentiality.