I would like to recognize Denise Callanan for her services to my son and my family while we were her patients. My son is 3 1/2 months old and was on the Epilepsy Pediatric Floor. We brought our son in because he would stop breathing repeatedly, and we were not sure what the problem was. I was scared and overwhelmed as he has had problems since he was born. Luckily, Deni was our day shift nurse. She was phenomenal with my son. So gentle, caring, and compassionate towards us. Because of my husband's work schedule I was there alone much of the time, to go through all of the tests and deal with the doctors who came in. Each time something was done Deni was there to make sure I was okay, to ask if I understood and to answer my questions. She also made sure my son was always comfortable. She even showed us a new way to set his crib to make him breathe easier. She even went to find him a mobile for his crib so that he felt like he was home, and so he had something to distract him. She held him and rocked him when I needed a break. My son also was colicky, and being a mother of a colicky child herself, Deni even taught me a few tricks to help with that problem.

I don't think there are words that would adequately express how grateful I was to have Deni as our nurse. Hackensack University Medical Center is lucky to have her, and so were we.