Dawn-Marie Schmitz, Nurse Practitioner

Dawn has helped numerous families deal with the difficult decisions and discussions surrounding end-of-life and quality of life. She was recently commended by the family of X, a patient in the RCU, for a few months with progressive respiratory failure. It became clear that X was either going to need a tracheostomy or a comfort-based approach. Dawn advocated for increased visitation so the family could be with the patient and then she sat with them for hours discussing what the patient's goals would be. She helped the family respect the patient's wishes and was able to create a path for X to go home so that she could ultimately pass in peace with her family beside her. The family was so grateful they reached out to us after her death to say thank you and recognize Dawn's contributions.