There are simply not enough words to explain what Carolina means to the CICU! She is the prime example of a nurse who provides extraordinary, compassionate, and skillful care. She represents one of our Children's Colorado's main values, which is humble expertise. As a person who has worked her way up from being a Clinical Assistant to RN and has so much experience in her field. She continually works to share her knowledge with new members of the team and takes time out of her busy day to sit down and work through any problem you have. She is a charge nurse who can control the unit and make things run smoothly; she is a resource nurse who can put out any and all fires. She's a bedside nurse who continually does the best work for her patients, including making sure there are no wrinkles in any of her sheets post-bathtime.

She is a teacher! When I did my post-op orientation, something that she firmly believed in was that every nurse should feel comfortable bagging an intubated patient; on my orientation, I had never done that as I came from a progressive care unit. She walked me through every step on how to give rescue breaths, using your end-tidal as feedback, and all the things to watch for, including good chest rise.

Additionally, I had my very first sick baby on EMCO a few weeks ago. We were going to attempt a wean trial and decannulation, and I had not done one on my orientation. She (already having a busy patient) was able to walk me through every step, gave me the right questions to ask, and guided me on how to provide the best care I could to this baby. We then talked about what would happen if we needed to go back on ECMO. The baby stayed off ECMO for 24 hours and then decompensated and had to go back on to ECMO emergently. Wow! I felt so prepared and safe, and I am so grateful that a nurse with that much experience continues to care for and educate new nurses who are growing in the field. There will never be enough recognition to show how much Carolina has done for this unit, her patients, and her colleagues. I only hope I can be half the nurse she is someday and I'm so grateful I get to continually learn from her.