My father-in-law was a patient in MICU for over a week. This was our 4th or 5th admission to the hospital and sadly his last. Daija was his nurse (it feels like almost every day she worked) and really took the time to discuss what was happening, answered all our questions, and gave us hope while also being the voice of reason in many cases. Daija was always careful not to overstep when our family asked questions that were out of her scope, but she always got us the answers we were looking for. Being an employee myself, I know how hard it can be to deal with concerned families and admittedly, I'm sure all of us were not always the easiest to deal with in this situation.

When Dad took a big turn for the worst, right before he was supposed to transfer to the floor, Daija stepped up and made sure he was cared for at the appropriate level. When the time came to switch to comfort care, Daija was gentle and kind in helping us walk through our decision to let Dad go. We knew we would be transferring out of MICU for comfort care and she, along with others, made sure the transfer was as seamless as possible.

It's been a month now that Dad has been gone and our family still talks about how great of a nurse Daija was, not just for Dad, but all of us during a very difficult season.