My mother had an open-heart triple bypass procedure and had serval complications throughout her stay. She required much attention, and all the ICU Nurses, Doctors, and techs were incredible. But sometimes you have people who go above and beyond and that’s where Courtney comes in.

From the beginning, Courtney was compassionate, informative, and professional. Her personality and demeanor help not only the family members but the patient. She would inform the family of everything that was going on at every visit. She called if major changes took place with my mother. She would assist the Physicians when they had to discuss tough conversations with us. She has a way of helping to calm the situation. When we had to have serious conversations with the physicians, and they knew Courtney was my mother’s nurse, they would say “they don’t get much better than Courtney as a Critical Care Nurse.” I have been around many Physicians, and they don’t just throw those types of compliments around.

Courtney is very compassionate about her career and patients. She offered to change her schedule to come in on her days off to help care for our mother! Not once, but twice throughout my mother’s stay in the ICU. She would even call to get updates and make sure things were going well when she was not on shift. When Courtney was off or not our mother’s nurse, she would let us know who we would have and many times we felt better because she had trained the other ICU nurses that would care for our mother. I even witnessed her training another ICU nurse firsthand and that was very impressive. She is the type of employee that creates a culture. Her culture of caring, mentoring, and professionalism is something a company should be behind and reward.

Unfortunately, my mother did not make it out of ICU, despite every effort from all the teams. As we waited to visit my mother one last time, who came out to get us? Courtney, in plain clothes. As she had been throughout, her compassionate hug to my step-father, then to me and other family members as we made our way into the ICU. With tears in her eyes, she was sincere and apologized for our loss. Her words about my mother were kind and accurate. I asked her, “you are off today, right?” …. She said, “yes, but I called to check on your mother and heard the news, I came to say goodbye.”

Courtney Manuel will forever be a part of our lives and memories. As I mentioned before, all the staff, physicians, and techs were good. Courtney was above and beyond amazing.