My father asked me to write this after he described to me his gratitude for service above and beyond the typical nursing care he received while on the cardiac floor 9 south at Christ Medical Center. My 83-year-old father was diagnosed with acute cardiac failure and admitted to Christ Medical Center. After 2 days in the hospital and dealing with the stress of being hospitalized, the many medication changes, the tests, and waking him up for frequent monitoring, he experienced his first ever panic attack. His nurse assured him his oxygen levels and blood pressure were fine, but he never felt like this and he knew something was wrong. He pressed his nurse for help but didn’t get any from her until the charge nurse Barbara Rychtarczyk came to him and LISTENED. My father is forever grateful to her for asking him questions and for listening to what he said and for talking him through what he now recalls as the worst night of his life. Nurse Rychtarczyk sat with him, redirected his attention, and guided him through the panic attack until he could once again breathe and didn’t feel like he was dying. (Anyone who knows our father - a former police officer - knows him as tough as nails and strong and suffers silently rather than reaching out for help.) My father and our family are so grateful to Nurse Rychtarczyk and know how lucky the cardiac floor 9 South Christ Medical Center patients are to be under her care!