“My husband was a patient at Rapid City Regional Hospital. He received care in the Emergency Department, in the Cardiac Catheterization Lab, in the Intensive Care Unit and in the Cardiac Interventional Unit.
[He] received excellent care in all these areas and we are very grateful to so many wonderful staff members at Rapid City Regional Hospital. However, I would like to give special recognition to Darilee Waddell, who is a registered nurse that took care of him in the Cardiac Interventional Unit. My husband suffered a massive heart attack and spent the afternoon and evening in the ICU after having a stent placed in his right coronary artery. Thus, we were more than a little nervous about moving out of the ICU to another area of the hospital.
However, we had absolutely no need to worry at all. Darilee was his nurse during the night and immediately put us both at ease with her warm personality and her level of expertise. She has a very calm demeanor and took the time to talk with us and answer the many questions we had. She was very diligent about making sure my husband’s pain was controlled, and in fact, she took it upon herself to work to better coordinate the times he was receiving his pain medications. Although I know she was very busy with other patients, she didn’t rush us when she was in the room with us. This made us feel that we could ask questions without being a bother; I can’t tell you how wonderful that was. She was very organized and always followed up on any question or request. I stayed in the room all night with my husband and whenever Darilee came to check on him throughout the night, she also asked if there was anything she could get for me. What a commitment to patient satisfaction!
I am so thankful to Darilee for not only the excellent care she provided to my husband, but for her kindness and compassion as well. She is a wonderful nurse and, as a Regional Health employee myself, I am very grateful she is part of the Regional Health team.