The death of a loved one is one of the most difficult experiences that many people will go through during their lifetime, but one nurse is trying to make the process a little easier.

Felicia Vaughn is a registered nurse at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Center for Palliative and Supportive Care who has created a unique way to remember patients through her “Heartbeat in a Bottle.”

A press release from UAB details how Vaughn creates the keepsakes with a printout of the patient’s EKG– the recording of the person’s heart’s electrical signal. After creating the EKG replica, Vaughn then places the small paper in a medicine vial. She started making the heartbeats in a bottle in 2021 and has now done almost 700, according to UAB.

Vaughn believes the gift will help families during their grieving process. “It is so special to me to see and hear how much these bottles have meant to the families of my patients,” she said, according to a press release from UAB.

In 2021, Vaughn met a patient with two kids that were the same age as her own children. Vaughn felt a connection with that patient, and she was the first person to have their heartbeat signal placed in a keepsake bottle.

Since beginning her project, Vaughn has received positive feedback from patients’ families.

A patient’s family member named Katelyn Bush wanted a tattoo of mother’s EKG, but she did not know how to ask for the EKG result. When she found out the heartbeat in a bottle, Bush was thrilled.

“My mother was my closest friend and confidante,” Bush told UAB. “To have a piece of her after she passed means more than I can express. Losing someone is never easy, but the nurses in the Palliative Care Unit made it much more bearable. They supported us as we grieved and showed my mother compassion and genuine care. I am so grateful to the people who cared for my mom. Everyone we encountered was so kind and provided outstanding care.”