JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — For Pieter Kort, the halls of UF Health Jacksonville once represented a place of profound grief and loss.
Nearly three years after a devastating car accident in Clay County claimed the lives of his two young daughters, the Canadian father returned to the hospital, this time to say thank you.
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Kort and his family, from Ontario, Canada, frequently vacationed in Florida. In 2022, a cherished family tradition ended in tragedy when a cement truck rear-ended their van at the intersection of U.S. 301 and County Road 218.
The accident sent the family to UF Health Jacksonville, where Kort mourned the loss of his daughters, Madeline and Joni, while simultaneously recovering from his own injuries.
Kamela Scott, Director of Surgical Psychology Services at UF Health, recalled the moment Kort was leaving hospital.
“When he left, he said, ‘I’ll never come back to Jacksonville,’” Scott recalled. “And I said, ‘I understand that because of the pain associated with it.’”
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“It’s obviously very difficult for me to come back,” Kort said Monday.
“He was present the entire time when his children were being treated in his life,” Dan Iracki, a shareholder with Coker Law, said. “So it was a very traumatic, terrible crash. The worst thing you could ever imagine as a human being,”
This week, Kort walked back into the facility with a new purpose: gratitude. He was eager to personally thank the dedicated staff in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) who had provided care and compassion during his family’s darkest hours.
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Kort, alongside Coker Law, presented a $20,000 donation to the hospital’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.
The gesture, Kort explained, was a testament to the staff’s humanity and support.
“Their compassion made all the difference for my family and the way that they greeted my family, that’s a huge difference,” Kort said.
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