In January of 2025, my 95-year-old father was admitted to the ICU after falling down the stairs at home and breaking his neck and back. While visiting the following day, my mother fell and developed a subdural hematoma and was unconscious and intubated. For almost a week, we were back and forth between two ICU rooms at Northridge Hospital.

Before my mother went into surgery for a Cranioectomy and subdural wash, the ICU floor arranged for my father to come say, what possibly could have been, goodbye, to her. While my father was moved out of the ICU, my mother remained. Every nurse who cared for my parents was amazing.

We want to recognize one nurse in particular who cared for our mother, Bincy Koshy-Abey. To say she was exceptional is an understatement. We called her our angel. Bincy listened to our story, she empathized, spoke to us kindly, informed us what was happening with my mom, and even advised us on my dad. She spoke with my mom as if she were her own mother. She didn’t just sit behind the desk, charting and only getting up to interact with her when she was mandated to, she showed her affection and kindness, urging her to try and get better.

She was truly invested in her care and recovery, taking an extra shift to make sure she was there when she was extubated. This desire to provide continuity of care was well over and above anything we would have expected. We watched her, not just with our mother, but with others on the unit. She was a true leader on the floor, and her kindness and empathy are what make nurses the reason patients truly get better. We watched her train new grads on the unit, and it caught my husband’s attention, who is an executive at a hospital in Northern California.

We were devastated by not one, but both parents falling and having serious injuries at once. Bincy gave not only my mom, but us as a family, comfort and peace knowing that she was well taken care of. We are so grateful that she was assigned to my mom. Nursing does not seem like a job, but a vocation for her.

All her patients are blessed to have Bincy care for them. I have tears of gratitude as I am writing this. I truly believe that she was the catalyst that helped my mom get a little bit better. Congratulations to your hospital on employing such a gem of a human being. We hope that both my parents recover to the point that the last years of their life aren’t ones of suffering, but we take comfort in knowing that they were given exceptional care. Thank you.