I would like to recognize Gabrielle Vest for the extraordinary patient and family care she provided before, during, and after a PICU patient's organ donation after cardiac death. The day required coordinating a significant amount of testing, adherence to a strict timetable, and coordination with many different departments at SLCH and with the staff from the organ procurement organization. She seamlessly balanced obtaining the necessary testing for the patient's organ donation (to facilitate the mother's wish for her child to donate her organs and save lives) while also clearly recognizing the importance of and prioritizing the time the family was able to spend together.

For example, she realized that the patient would likely have hypotension after a necessary large-volume blood draw and proactively reached out to me to come up with a contingency plan which she was able to use to calmly and quietly treat the patient's hypotension while the family continued to spend time with her. She helped facilitate a calm and peaceful experience in the garden for the patient and her extended family where the mom was able to sit in bed with her child, and they played music and released balloons with messages to the child.

During the actual withdrawal of life-sustaining technology, she was compassionate and professional and I believe made a difficult experience go as smoothly and peacefully as possible for the patient and her family. Finally, during the organ procurement in the OR, she interacted extremely professionally with all the involved staff (MTS, OR staff, surgeons etc.) and remained calm and professional in a setting very different than the typical PICU workplace. Overall, Gabby facilitated a peaceful and meaningful end of life for this patient and family and helped fulfill their wish for the child to donate her organs.