My 67-year-old mother was admitted into the Medical Intensive Care Unit because she was having difficulty breathing. Erin was one of the nurses who took care of my mom during her eleven-day hospitalization. Mom was very sick. She was on a ventilator, and it was discovered that her cancer returned for a fourth time. It was worse than ever before. Mom needed many platelet and blood transfusions, but they did not help her to get better. 

My mom had a great care team in the MICU. Erin was the first nurse we met, and she was the last one to help my mom. Erin was compassionate dedicated and very caring. She helped to explain what was going on with my mom and she helped to facilitate our family meetings and prayers. Erin was always there to help our mom even if she was not her nurse on that particular day. Erin helped to provide her knowledge and emotional support to all of my family.

Unfortunately, my mom was terminally weaned off of the ventilator because there was nothing else the physicians could do to help her. Erin stayed by my mother’s side. Erin made sure my mom was as comfortable as possible when she was alive and when she was passing away. Even though mom was not her only patient that day she made my family feel like we were the only people there at the hospital. Allowing my mother to be removed from the ventilator was the hardest thing that I have ever done in my life. However, I had to honor my mom’s wishes by not allowing her to stay hooked up to a machine. Two months prior to my mom passing away my family also lost our father to cancer. We were not expecting to lose our mother so suddenly too.

Erin is an excellent nurse. Her dedication made sure that my mother received the best care possible. Whether it was medicating my mom to keep her comfortable, providing emotional support, updating physicians, or just trying to stay positive Erin was always there for me and my family. We would just like to thank Erin and the wonderful MICU staff for taking care of our mother and all of the other patients. I am a nurse too. Being a family member is very difficult especially when you are used to being the caregiver. I could not imagine anyone else taking better care of my mom than Erin. I do not work with Erin but I could see that she is a wonderful person and an Extraordinary Nurse. Erin even asked to be my mom’s nurse because she knew the heartbreak that our family was going through. I cannot thank Erin enough for everything she did to help my mom and my family.