As the husband of a patient, and someone who works in a hospital myself, I know how hard it can be to spend time with each person and really listen and help. It's sad, but so often, anymore, staffing issues create an environment where it is hard to do. But even with that, there are the special few who, no matter how busy or stressed, they somehow have the ability to make everyone feel like they are the top priority.
It's easy to say in a meeting or a slogan on a sign, but a much harder thing to actually pull off. Joni made my wife feel special. Just the ability to listen and hear concerns and questions without having the look on your face of "Can we hurry this up, I have somewhere to be." It's easy to tell when someone is in a hurry to be finished with you, and on to the next thing. Even though we are 100% positive this was the case for Joni, you would never know it. The level of respect and compassion shown is something we should all be capable of showing, but most of us fall a bit short.
We would like to thank her for that extra above and beyond that made us feel like everything was going to be okay, and anything we needed was just a little bit away at the desk. It's so hard to do, but Joni excels at it, and the fact that she was able to do all this on New Year's Eve with the facility absolutely packed is amazing.
Note: This is Joni's 2nd DAISY Award!