Debbie was one of B's primary nurses in the Minneapolis Children's ICC. B was born with long-gap esophageal atresia and spent his first 6 months of life in the NICU and the ICC. We met Debbie shortly after moving to the ICC, and she happily signed up as a primary nurse for B, in addition to M, after taking care of him for a shift. Debbie has a lot of experience with esophageal atresia babies, and she was well-prepared to take care of B. Debbie and M collaborated beautifully as B's primary nurses and provided highly consistent care for B and our family.
Debbie took time to get to know B's needs, preferences, and our schedules. She trusted our judgement as parents and helped us advocate for B with the doctors. Debbie always made sure that B got a bath first thing in the morning and that his skin was in the best possible condition. She invested time talking with us, B's parents, about how he was doing, how we were feeling, and how we were dealing with the challenges and setbacks of our stay. It was obvious that Debbie cared for B as if he was her own son and wanted the best possible outcome for him. M and Debbie always worked as a team to provide the best care for B and our family. They collaborated on their work schedules to share with us who would be caring for B and who could be present at B's biweekly care conferences. Both M and Debbie offered insights from their many years of nursing to help guide us and offered an additional perspective on how we could expect B's recovery and long-term outcomes to be. Their combined care was the best part of our hospital stay.