Alexis Zody
March 2021
Alexis
Zody
,
RN, BSN
Pulmonary ICU
UK HealthCare
In my 28 year career as a physician, I cannot think of any better recipient that deserves this award more than Alexis.
As a physician, needing to be admitted to the hospital with COVID was an extremely scary experience, and adding to my illness, my 27-year-old pregnant daughter was admitted to the COVID Unit/ICU. I contracted COVID while working with the UK football team and unfortunately then passed it on to my entire family. I was an inpatient for 9 days in the hospital that I have worked at for 28 years as a doctor and my daughter was hospitalized for 16 days. It was a very scary and stressful time for my family.
In my 28 year career as a physician, I cannot think of any better recipient that deserves this award more than Alexis. There are too many reasons to count! She is in her first year of working as a Nurse and started her career last spring on the COVID floor. As a patient, it is so hard to describe how difficult it is to be isolated in a hospital room for about 23 hours a day without human contact. Alexis was not afraid to be in my room, while many others were afraid to stay at my bedside for more than a few minutes. I am not sure I would have made it without her compassionate care and patience.
Alexis cared for me as if I was family. I knew how busy she was and she never acted like she had any place else to be but in my room caring for me. She constantly kept me updated on the status of my daughter down the hall, as well as spending lots of time speaking to my wife who is also a Nurse on the phone. She understood how important it was to spend time talking to my family who was unable to physically be there with me. The days were so long and I simply needed someone to talk to. Alexis stayed in my room, not afraid, held my hand, and told me "You are going to make it and be fine", at a time no one could tell me that. You have no idea what those words meant to me. For a young Nurse to have that level of compassion for her patients is simply off the charts.
After five days of basically being in bed and only walking to the bathroom, she volunteered to help me shower and brush my teeth. Alexis washed my hair and made me feel like a person again. I consider myself the luckiest patient in the entire hospital to have her as my primary Nurse for three days in a row. The other days were simply not the same without her positive energy, level of compassion, and willingness to simply stay in my room and talk to me at a time when many others probably could not because of rules and such with COVID. I can never thank her enough for what she did for me and my entire family. I am not sure I would be here today without her. She gave me the positive energy I needed to get through those long nine days. It was her extraordinary care, compassion, and clinical skills that were life-saving to me personally, and my entire family during that stressful time. There are so many wonderful nurses caring for COVID patients at UK Healthcare, but Alexis went above and beyond what was expected of her. Her compassion, courage, and empathy for me are what helped turn my illness around. She will never be forgotten in my house.
In my 28 year career as a physician, I cannot think of any better recipient that deserves this award more than Alexis. There are too many reasons to count! She is in her first year of working as a Nurse and started her career last spring on the COVID floor. As a patient, it is so hard to describe how difficult it is to be isolated in a hospital room for about 23 hours a day without human contact. Alexis was not afraid to be in my room, while many others were afraid to stay at my bedside for more than a few minutes. I am not sure I would have made it without her compassionate care and patience.
Alexis cared for me as if I was family. I knew how busy she was and she never acted like she had any place else to be but in my room caring for me. She constantly kept me updated on the status of my daughter down the hall, as well as spending lots of time speaking to my wife who is also a Nurse on the phone. She understood how important it was to spend time talking to my family who was unable to physically be there with me. The days were so long and I simply needed someone to talk to. Alexis stayed in my room, not afraid, held my hand, and told me "You are going to make it and be fine", at a time no one could tell me that. You have no idea what those words meant to me. For a young Nurse to have that level of compassion for her patients is simply off the charts.
After five days of basically being in bed and only walking to the bathroom, she volunteered to help me shower and brush my teeth. Alexis washed my hair and made me feel like a person again. I consider myself the luckiest patient in the entire hospital to have her as my primary Nurse for three days in a row. The other days were simply not the same without her positive energy, level of compassion, and willingness to simply stay in my room and talk to me at a time when many others probably could not because of rules and such with COVID. I can never thank her enough for what she did for me and my entire family. I am not sure I would be here today without her. She gave me the positive energy I needed to get through those long nine days. It was her extraordinary care, compassion, and clinical skills that were life-saving to me personally, and my entire family during that stressful time. There are so many wonderful nurses caring for COVID patients at UK Healthcare, but Alexis went above and beyond what was expected of her. Her compassion, courage, and empathy for me are what helped turn my illness around. She will never be forgotten in my house.