Emily Orbe worked tirelessly for eight and ½ months with the family of one of our long-term patients. This baby had a complicated social dynamic at home that led to him not being able to go home safely with his trach. She worked with the nurses to understand the barriers to getting him home and had lengthy chats with the family to help figure out a plan to make them feel comfortable caring for their baby at home. Emily spent countless hours working with insurance, multiple teams, and social work.

At one point, the baby was deemed medically safe to go home, but due to personal problems for the parents, the baby had to stay an additional 2 months in the NICU. Emily never stopped checking in with the parents and the nurses to see if there was progress towards getting the baby to go home. She would even take the time to sit on the play mat on the floor and read him books, help him work on his leg muscles with the foot piano, and make him laugh with her baby talk and silly faces. You could see how much she loved and cared for that patient.

She would advocate for him and his safe transition home with the medical team. When his family had to make an emergency trip home internationally, she worked even harder to secure home health, transportation home, and a discharge plan. She showed extreme compassion with this family and collaborated with multiple services to best support them. She even helped pioneer a plan for our medical team to talk to an ENT specialist in Delhi, India, because the parents mentioned they might take him to India once they were discharged. The parents did not have much of a support system in the United States, and they voiced their desire to move to India fairly soon to Emily. She immediately jumped on securing an open communication network between our medical team and encouraged them to reach out to contacts in Delhi to ensure the baby would be safe and well monitored in case the family did take him to India.

Our team successfully handed off to an ENT doctor in Delhi, and all the nurses felt relieved in knowing that the baby would be well cared for, no matter what country he would be in. Her goal isn’t only to get through tasks because it is her job; her actions are a result of how much she cares for our babies. She is our hero in the NICU. When he graduated, we had a beautiful "graduation day" in the NICU, complete with the therapy dog, bubbles, and cap and gown. His parents cried as they walked out, seeing all the love their son received. Emily led the team to ensure a safe and loving transition home.