May 2023
Donna
Sederstrom
,
BSN, RN
Limited Stay Unit
Children's Minnesota
St. Paul
,
MN
United States
She treated us like she was so happy to have us there, when in fact, we were the lucky ones! She was so welcoming and put our minds at ease.
We arrived to Children’s Minnesota St. Paul ED with my 6-month-old daughter via ambulance. She has an increased work of breathing following a positive RSV swab in the Regions ED the day prior. There were no beds available, but we needed to be admitted so we spent 26 hrs in the ED before getting transferred to the floor. We arrived to the 6th floor, med/surg around 4:30pm where Donna was our nurse. After rooming our daughter and getting her admitted, Donna turned her attention to my husband and me. We were exhausted. We had 2 long ED visits/waits and were ready to get settled in. She made sure we had everything we needed, got us linens/pillows, and a menu to order food. She made sure we understood what the next few days would look like, what the plan of care was, and answered any questions we had. She was very intuitive and brought us everything we needed before we even had to ask. I know how busy Children’s has been with sick kids, the nurses have been overworked and understaffed and she treated us like she was so happy to have us there, when in fact, we were the lucky ones! She was so welcoming and put our minds at ease. I know she had other patients and was probably running around during her whole shift, but you would never know. She never rushed, she always took her time to explain things and get to know us. She asked about our other daughters and what we had going on at home. She always followed back up with us. If she said she was going to do something or bring us something - she did. She even brought me coffee with real cream! I felt that she really listened to us, not just made small talk and communicated our needs to the care team, and advocated for our daughter’s care. In what could be considered the scariest moment of our life, Donna was a light in all of it. The way Donna cared for not only our daughter, but our family is something I will never forget. She made a difference. Thank you, Donna!