Our 24 year old daughter was in a coma as a result of an overdose of a mood stabilizing medication. Words cannot adequately describe our feelings of helplessness and fear as we sat at her bedside. Her formerly animated and cheerful face was like a death mask. The extreme seriousness of her condition was communicated to us by the attending ICU physician and nurse. The presence of endotracheal and feeding tubes as well as numerous attachments to monitoring equipment was further testament to the seriousness of her condition. During our second visit, we met the ICU physician and nurse, who cared for R for the next several days. Both the doctor and Jessica Bowers came across as very sincere, caring, and competent individuals. The many hours of contact we had with Jessica over the following three days of ICU care clearly confirmed that our initial impressions were correct. Jessica demonstrated extraordinary compassion and competence throughout our daughter's period of unconsciousness as well as during her early period of awakening.

The many ways in which Jessica gave us hope and reassurance in our darkest hours cannot all be put into words. Some of the specific ways include: She was the one who made sure we got answers to our many questions from the initial emergency room visit to the present. Her answers were always clear and accurate. In general, she was a wonderful communicator.

She was very empathetic and always treated us and R with kindness, dignity, and respect. Jessica's sense of humor was very appropriate for the situation and comforted us greatly during this extremely difficult time. Jessica frequently spoke to R, even though she was in a coma, in a very warm and sensitive way in the belief that she may be able to hear her. She took these words very seriously and even asked what our daughter prefers to be called. We were very touched by this. Jessica was very attentive, compassionate, and diligent in regard to the nursing care itself. She was always very forthright and clear in explaining details of R's medical status to us. We were entirely confident that R was under the care of a very skillful and genuinely compassionate nurse. Jessica checked in on R several times after she was moved out of the ICU ward, even on her day off once, during a CE seminar. She definitely went above and beyond!

R's independent memories of Jessica are that she genuinely cared and sincerely listened. R felt very reassured and comfortable in her care. There are many aspects of Jessica's manner and actions that we cannot adequately express in writing which gave us comfort and hope. Jessica is a truly exceptional ICU nurse whom we thank from the bottom of our hearts. Our daughter is now fully recovered. We believe that Jessica was highly instrumental in saving her life.