Jess Reed has a huge heart for nursing and caring for her patients. Jess is by far one of the most caring and compassionate nurses I have had in a surgery unit. She has the largest amount of respect and understanding for her patients, no matter what their status might be. She goes the extra mile, and my husband even expressed how much she truly cared about me and wanted the best for me as her patient.

Little backstory on my life. In 2019, I was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and the tumor extraction surgery was unsuccessful. So yes, I call my tumor my little brain friend. I’ll always have it, just might change in size. Moving on, five years later, I received Gemma Knife radiation to help shrink the tumor back to the size it was post op. This was a very painful procedure, to say the least. But I say all this to make sense of how many nurses I have encountered over the last several years. Jess is truly a star nurse who cares deeply for her patients while in her care.

I came in for surgery the following year and was lucky enough to have Jess as my post-op second-stage PACU recovery nurse right before going home. After surgery, I had two other nurses before being handed off to Jess. I was in an extreme amount of pain after my procedure and well into the second stage of recovery. Jess took time to fully understand where the pain was coming from and never once made me feel like I was a burden on her. Patients are always told to speak up, and as I did, Jess was there to listen.

She went as far as contacting another general surgeon; my surgeon was already gone for the day, to see what else she could administer for pain. She didn’t just tell me that she was out of options. I told her and the surgeon that the pain I was experiencing was worse than when I had the halo placed for radiation. Again, during this time, she never once made me feel like I needed to be discharged. Jess truly wanted to ensure I was okay. She mentioned over and over how she wanted to make sure I was comfortable and that I was being taken care of.

I knew I was one of the very last patients she was working with and coming to the end of her shift, as it was well after 8 pm and lights were starting to turn off one area after another. Before she would discharge me, she even asked my husband if he was okay with taking me home with as much pain as I was having. Jess still went the extra mile over and over to ensure I was okay, even when my tears from the pain and my emotions were high.

The treatment I received from Jess Reed was very professional, positive, caring, supportive, comforting, and she was genuinely understanding. She deserves to be recognized for all the things she does for her patients. If I ever have to have surgery again in St. Cloud, I can only hope and pray that I have her again.

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This is Jessica's 2nd DAISY Award!