Jeff cared for a patient in the ICU who came to our hospital for surgery and experienced severe chest pain postoperatively. The patient was extremely anxious as was his wife. When Jeff came on duty for the night shift, he noticed that the patient was wearing a "camo" t-shirt; this led to a discussion about hunting and all the things associated with that sport. The patient's wife watched as he began to relax and calm down. She reported that as she watched Jeff interact with her husband, she knew that he was, "skilled, caring, and in and out of the room continually." She further added, "he modeled the beauty of "caring" in nursing, not only to my husband but also to me." In her nomination, she expressed that initially she did not want to leave the hospital for the night but after meeting Jeff and watching him interact with her husband, she felt totally at peace leaving him and her husband agreed that he was in good hands!
The wife, who is an Assistant Professor of Nursing at a University, additionally stated that she hoped somewhere back in her forty-four years of nursing that she had been the kind of nurse she witnessed that night in Jeff.