This week marks the third hospitalization my daughter has had in her short 7 months of life. We were fortunate to return to our "home away from home". We met Alyssa Lurie on the first night of this hospitalization. She was the nurse for our roommate. When it came time to place our daughter's NG tube, Alyssa was in the room and saw our nurse struggling so she jumped right in to help.
After my daughter's NG tube was placed, a nursing change was made and Alyssa was assigned to be our nurse for the remainder of the night shift. Alyssa was very attentive, professional, and sympathetic to my daughter's distress from being without food or medication for over 12 hours. After several hours and unsuccessful attempts to soothe an inconsolable baby with severe GERD, Alyssa offered to take her for a walk to calm her down and give me a break.
I felt confident with Alyssa's abilities and the calm way in which she spoke to my daughter, so I kindly accepted. I fell asleep while my daughter was with Alyssa. When I awoke to Alyssa tapping me to let me know that she had brought my daughter back, I looked at the clock. She had kept my daughter with her at the nursing station for six hours! To me, that embodies going above and beyond her nursing responsibilities. She made a very strong first impression.
Alyssa had a few days off, during which time we were delighted to have our other DAISY Award Nurse recipient caring for our daughter. While Alyssa was off, our daughter had a brain MRI which revealed a Chiari malformation. We were told Alyssa would be our day nurse, along with a personal recommendation that Alyssa is wonderful, and we would be in good hands. She was right!
Alyssa began her second shift with our daughter with a smile on her face. It was clear that she had been given a detailed update on our daughter's condition. After patiently waiting to see the Neurosurgery Attending Physician for the better part of the day and being told by the Neurosurgery intern that he would come either today or tomorrow, Alyssa went to work advocating for us.
After a series of phone calls, Alyssa was able to track down the attending and we had a phone consult ending with his assurance that he would be in to see our daughter late that evening or early the next morning. Had Alyssa not taken on a proactive role advocating for us, we would have been left with these test results and no understanding for even longer. Finding out that your child has a malformation in their brain is heartbreaking. Sitting on eggshells not knowing what it actually means for her future is enough to make anyone crazy. Alyssa was by our side the whole time.
Alyssa has made herself available for all our GI consults and has offered insights from the nursing care perspective as well as helpful clarifications for our family after these discussions. She has provided us with input and output calculations, so we can learn better how to manage our daughter's hydration needs and feeding tube program at home.
One night at the end of her shift, Alyssa again went above and beyond her job as a nurse. Knowing the long day we'd had and that I never leave my daughter's side in the hospital unless there is someone with her, she popped her head into our room on her way out with a smile. "Would you like me to bring you some coffee tomorrow morning?" I couldn't say thank you fast enough before she said: "How do you like it?" Sure enough, at 6:50 the next morning, Alyssa greeted me with a smile and a soy hot chocolate from Starbucks for me in her hand.
It is clear to me that for Alyssa, she sees her role as not just taking care of the patient but taking care of their family too. It means the world to be cared for so thoughtfully. We believe Alyssa should be recognized with a DAISY Award for the empathy and compassion she shows her patients and their families, her nursing expertise and her team approach to complex care.