I was a nurse that worked with Gina in Mother Baby. She was my charge nurse but also my friend and someone that I felt I could confide in and count on in my personal and professional life. I had the unfortunate experience of losing a baby, not once but twice that year. At the time, our bereavement policy at NGHS did not include miscarriages, so if a staff member didn't have PDOs to cover their absence, they had to take an SPDO or UPDO, which could result in disciplinary action and either had to stay out without pay or return to work as quickly as possible. I didn't have enough PDOs to take additional days off besides the days I actively miscarried, so I returned to work immediately. If it weren't already hard enough to lose a baby, I worked with babies every day and had to put on a smile and celebrate all of my patients' new beautiful blessings while my heart was breaking inside for the loss of my own. I shared with Gina how unfair it was that we could lose a baby and not even acknowledge it in our bereavement policy. I shared with her how I was so sad and angry at the same time that as nurses, we couldn't even care for ourselves in the way we cared for our patients when they lost a baby.

Because of other life circumstances, I left NGHS in November of 2017 and moved out of state with my family. In 2018, I received a message from Gina "I promise you! I won't quit until they add this. I will honor your babies." along with a description of her SBAR to VOICE requesting to change the NGHS Bereavement policy to include "pregnancy loss at any stage" so that parents would have time to grieve the loss of their babies. To say I was touched is an understatement. The tears immediately began to flow. Gina listened. My voice was heard. Because of my story, she was going to advocate for every staff member at NGHS who would experience a devastating loss as my family did!

The following February, she reached out to me again that the policy had indeed been updated and that NGHS families would have the opportunity to grieve together if they lost a baby. She won! She won a silent battle for our NGHS family. Because of her compassion for me, my family, and the rest of our NGHS family, she fought - for all of us.

Another year later, one of our own (in Women's and Children's) had the unfortunate experience that I did and lost their baby. Gina, again sent me the most precious message. It said, "There is no footprint too small that it cannot leave an imprint on this world. Your grief, your profound loss. Your story. Your sweet baby. All of these made a difference on one of our own, tonight. Because of our voice. Because you said that it wasn't right. You spoke up and said that our hospital needed to recognize our children, no matter how small, when they leave this earth. Through many emails, tenacious persistence, and a willingness to make no other employee have to face their grief with no bereavement pay, you impacted one of our own. You ensured that she receive bereavement so that she will have time to mourn without the worry of PDO hours and bills. I was so proud to know that you took your profound grief and you gave others the reality of not facing what you faced. While I wish you had held, loved on, fed, and clothed your baby, I wanted you to know that your baby had a legacy bigger than you knew. How many families will be blessed with the gift of less worry because of you? Thank you for your voice and for being so selfless that you spoke up and said that no one should have to return to work only because of money. What an imprint your baby made on our friend tonight. They may not know you or how much your baby touched them, but I do and I wanted you to know too!"

The ironic thing was that it wasn’t my voice that made the change – it was Gina’s! Since then, several more of our friends have gone on to experience great loss and I’m honored to know that my angel baby was able to make a difference in their life. But more than that, we are all so blessed to work alongside a friend that is willing to stand in the gap and speak up for all of us in our time of significant need! She is a wonderful patient advocate and truly a DAISY Nurse.