My wife and I had the absolute pleasure and will forever be eternally grateful for receiving the care, coaching, comfort, and overall patient service that Elena Griffis provided during the birth of our baby boy. On a day of staffing shortages due to increased patient volume, Elena volunteered her own personal time to come into work for a four hour shift to help out her unit. By way of what I can only classify as a miracle, she was assigned to us, while my wife was coming down the home stretch of 30 hours of labor with our first child. As new parents to be, experiencing all of the acts and emotions of child birth for the first time, Elena not only provided the highest level of care and consideration, but she also educated us throughout the entire process. She coaching my wife (and me, for that matter) prior to, and throughout the entire 3 hour journey once it was time to start pushing, up until our son arrived, right before Elena’s shift would conclude. Like I said, miracle. In between each repositioning, or the bouts of pushing, Elena kept us calm and confident with her friendly and engaging personal conversation mixed in with the updates on how the baby’s vitals looked, and how my wife was progressing. It was the first day we ever met Elena, but she made it feel as if we had known her for years and we were just catching up. Since the unit was so busy, the majority of the time during this phase of labor, it was only me, my wife, and Elena in the room, and Elena was all we needed. For example, in the middle of the 3 hours of pushing, the computer screen experienced a glitch which distorted the view of the heart rate and contractions being monitored, rendering it unreadable. Elena quickly addressed the situation by delegating assistance and having her charge nurse coordinate the technical solution with their IT department, providing the feedback and details needed, while she stayed focused on my wife and son. Thank you, Elena, for helping bring our son into this world, safe and sound. And for the patient care that every person deserves.