Hannah Sylvester
April 2026
Hannah
Sylvester
,
BSN, RN, CCRN
Baystate Medical Center
Springfield
,
MA
United States
Hannah Sylvester, RN, of the HVCC unit, exemplifies everything the DAISY Award represents. I am honored to recognize her for the extraordinary skill, dedication, and compassion she demonstrated while caring for a 17-year-old on a night in February.
The patient woke up as a healthy high school student and athlete expecting an ordinary day. Instead, after going to her school nurse with shortness of breath, she was sent for further evaluation, first to her PCP and then to Cooley Dickinson Hospital, where she was found to be hypoxic. From there, she was transferred here to our PICU, where imaging revealed massive bilateral pulmonary emboli with right heart strain.
In a matter of hours, her day had changed from going to class to facing a life-threatening emergency. An IR thrombectomy was planned, scheduled, and initially the procedure went off without a hitch. However, halfway through, she suffered a cardiac arrest. During the initial minutes of resuscitation, it was determined that she would need implantation of VA ECMO, full heart and lung support, to survive the arrest and further treat the underlying pulmonary emboli.
Soon after implantation, it was determined that she was accepted to Boston Children's Hospital for the ECMO care, and while awaiting transfer, she was admitted to the HVCC, with Hannah as her nurse ECMO Specialist. This is where Hannah's night began.
What was expected to be a short period of stabilization became a night-long fight for this patient's life. Within minutes of arriving to the unit, she showed signs of internal bleeding. She became profoundly hypotensive, and the ECMO circuit became intermittent in how much support it could provide for her.
Interventions over minutes became interventions over seconds with Hannah immediately recognizing the severity of the crisis. Responding, and responding, and responding with massive transfusion initiation, meticulous and constant management of life-saving drips, and administration of critical medications. Hannah remained relentlessly at bedside as her condition continued to deteriorate.
As transfer to BCH was canceled due to the instability of the situation, an operating room was booked. Through this, the source of bleeding was found and controlled. The patient is now returning to Hannah with an open abdomen and still a long night ahead of them.
By the end of her shift, Hannah had administered 18 units of RBCs, 9 units of FFP, 6 Platelets, 3 sets of cryo, along with constant management of her critical infusions and continuous management of the VA ECMO circuit that was sustaining B.'s life. By the time of shift change, the patient was stable enough to be transported now to Brigham & Women's in Boston for the remainder of her care.
Hannah's clinical excellence was extraordinary, but more than just her expert care - she gave her a chance to live.
As Hannah went home that morning, an understandable heaviness was felt. Though stable now, the patient's prognosis felt so uncertain. A weight of: did everything we do make a difference? And it did.
Shortly after transfer to Brigham, she was decannulated from ECMO, extubated, began her neurologic and physical recovery, transferred to rehabilitation, and is now expected to return home with a full life ahead: Walking, talking, laughing, and being a teenager.
As the Baystate ECMO team has been kept updated on her progress by her father, he has been specific in acknowledging the heroic efforts of the entire team, and especially Hannah. In his words, "The English language doesn't have words for gratitude adequate to the task of expressing how we feel towards the Baystate Team."
That gratitude reflects the impact not only Hannah and the team had on B.'s outcome, but on her family's life forever.
This patient's survival is a testament to it takes a village, even over the course of 12 hours. However, this DAISY is for Hannah, who served as her constant. Who never stepped away, never gave up, and never stopped fighting for her patient.
Hannah is a profound example of the difference a nurse can make. And because of this, the patient is still here.
The patient woke up as a healthy high school student and athlete expecting an ordinary day. Instead, after going to her school nurse with shortness of breath, she was sent for further evaluation, first to her PCP and then to Cooley Dickinson Hospital, where she was found to be hypoxic. From there, she was transferred here to our PICU, where imaging revealed massive bilateral pulmonary emboli with right heart strain.
In a matter of hours, her day had changed from going to class to facing a life-threatening emergency. An IR thrombectomy was planned, scheduled, and initially the procedure went off without a hitch. However, halfway through, she suffered a cardiac arrest. During the initial minutes of resuscitation, it was determined that she would need implantation of VA ECMO, full heart and lung support, to survive the arrest and further treat the underlying pulmonary emboli.
Soon after implantation, it was determined that she was accepted to Boston Children's Hospital for the ECMO care, and while awaiting transfer, she was admitted to the HVCC, with Hannah as her nurse ECMO Specialist. This is where Hannah's night began.
What was expected to be a short period of stabilization became a night-long fight for this patient's life. Within minutes of arriving to the unit, she showed signs of internal bleeding. She became profoundly hypotensive, and the ECMO circuit became intermittent in how much support it could provide for her.
Interventions over minutes became interventions over seconds with Hannah immediately recognizing the severity of the crisis. Responding, and responding, and responding with massive transfusion initiation, meticulous and constant management of life-saving drips, and administration of critical medications. Hannah remained relentlessly at bedside as her condition continued to deteriorate.
As transfer to BCH was canceled due to the instability of the situation, an operating room was booked. Through this, the source of bleeding was found and controlled. The patient is now returning to Hannah with an open abdomen and still a long night ahead of them.
By the end of her shift, Hannah had administered 18 units of RBCs, 9 units of FFP, 6 Platelets, 3 sets of cryo, along with constant management of her critical infusions and continuous management of the VA ECMO circuit that was sustaining B.'s life. By the time of shift change, the patient was stable enough to be transported now to Brigham & Women's in Boston for the remainder of her care.
Hannah's clinical excellence was extraordinary, but more than just her expert care - she gave her a chance to live.
As Hannah went home that morning, an understandable heaviness was felt. Though stable now, the patient's prognosis felt so uncertain. A weight of: did everything we do make a difference? And it did.
Shortly after transfer to Brigham, she was decannulated from ECMO, extubated, began her neurologic and physical recovery, transferred to rehabilitation, and is now expected to return home with a full life ahead: Walking, talking, laughing, and being a teenager.
As the Baystate ECMO team has been kept updated on her progress by her father, he has been specific in acknowledging the heroic efforts of the entire team, and especially Hannah. In his words, "The English language doesn't have words for gratitude adequate to the task of expressing how we feel towards the Baystate Team."
That gratitude reflects the impact not only Hannah and the team had on B.'s outcome, but on her family's life forever.
This patient's survival is a testament to it takes a village, even over the course of 12 hours. However, this DAISY is for Hannah, who served as her constant. Who never stepped away, never gave up, and never stopped fighting for her patient.
Hannah is a profound example of the difference a nurse can make. And because of this, the patient is still here.