How do you adequately describe a nurse who delivers amazing care to every one of her patients? Sometimes a nurse will have a special relationship with one patient and the story is easy to tell. With this nurse the story is more difficult because she maintains that special relationship with all her patients.

One of my favorite parts of my job is when I get to go and talk to patients and their family members about their stay. I ask them if any of our staff have delivered exceptional care. The patients fortunate enough to have had Hope as their nurse tell me in great length how amazing Hope is. They tell me how Hope goes out of her way to make sure they have everything they need. They tell me that Hope is the definition of exceptional. They tell me that they cannot find the words to describe Hope.

One family member described Hope as being like a dog with a bone when it came to excellent patient care. She said, "I knew I could leave the room to shower and get a bite to eat if Hope was taking care of my husband. I knew that Hope would care for all of my husband's needs, and that she would not even sit down until all of his needs were met."

Another family member told me how Hope deeply cared for the entire family. They told me that while their husband and father was intubated she took so much time and care not only with the patient, but with the entire family. "She talked to us and cared for us so deeply. She even talked and visited with the family members that were out of state and out of the country. She knew we believed in prayer and she prayed for us and she was such a comfort to us all."

One patient's husband described Hope by saying she is detailed oriented to the Nth degree. He told me that she was very real and if she did not know the answer she would find the answer.

When Hope is at the desk charting and a family member comes to the desk with a need, Hope drops what she is doing and brightly says, "You bet, right away, you bet". It does not matter if she is the nurse for that patient or not. She is up on her feet walking as fast as her feet will carry her to solve the issue.

When patients and family members come back to the SCU, they most always express their desire to see Hope. If she is not here that day they will always share with me how much Hope means to them, and they ask me to send their greetings. If Hope is there and sees them before they see her, she rushes to them and greets them by name and shares a warm embrace.

She has helped many grieving family members through the process of letting go. Many of these family members have come back after the death of their loved one specifically to talk to Hope and to thank her.

If you actually ever find Hope sitting down, ask her what she thinks about working here or about the "Mother Standard of Care". She will tell you with all seriousness that she considers it a sacred honor to work here and the Mother Standard is and must always be the yardstick by which we measure all else. As she tells you this her eyes will honestly mist up and yours will too as you see someone who is so passionate about excellence in nursing.