Dana Sawyer
October 2018
Dana
Sawyer
,
BSN, RN
Labor and Delivery, Nursery
Bradley County Medical Center
Warren
,
AR
United States

 

 

 

Dana is a very dedicated nurse who is always willing to go above and beyond in explaining what is happening and what to expect. She is always pleasant and joyful.
I know Dana as a mentor, a partner, and as a caregiver, but a defining moment was when she was my brother's nurse. I was scheduled as her partner that night in OB, but I was on call at home because we didn't have any patients. I received a phone call from my father in the middle of the night. My brother had been shot and he was in the hospital. One of the ER nurses called, I knew she was calling about my brother, but I couldn't take her call. I had to get to the emergency department. I had to get to my brother. I received a call from Dana. I answered. She was with my brother in the emergency department. She called me to let me talk to my brother. It meant the world to me, and to him. He was scared, and he was being uncooperative with one of the nurses because she was bossing him around. She worked with him and calmed him down and got him to cooperate with them. I asked her how he was doing. She could have told me that he had been shot multiple times; he had. She didn't, she said the two words that I needed to hear. The two words that made all the difference in the world to me, a nurse. She said, "He's stable." That was all I needed to hear. Those words from her, someone I trusted, were enough to give me the strength to call my mother and let her know what was happening. They were enough to get me to the hospital safely, without breaking down.
When I arrived, I found out that he had been shot in the neck and through the back, through his bicep, and had a bullet that shot off the tip of his finger and grazed his head. But he was stable. I was able to see him and reassure him, but her thoughtfulness, compassion, and caring meant the world to me. Rather than telling me every detail, she had the foresight and wisdom to know that all I needed to know before I arrived at the hospital was that he was stable. I am so thankful to have had the privilege to work with her and see her give the same compassion and care to all of her patients.