Our dad, B, spent the final 16 hours of his life in the Sutter Davis ER. He received a heartbreaking pancreatic cancer diagnosis five weeks prior and for close to three of those weeks, he was hospitalized at the UCD Medical Center due to frustrating complications. When our dad suddenly needed to go to the ER again one more time we chose to take him closer to home to Sutter Davis Hospital.

While in the ER, Josh was our dad’s nurse. Josh was the calmest, kindest, most personable, and gentle person we could have hoped to have with us in those final hours. Our dad could not go home and into hospice care since his blood pressure was so low and there were no ICU rooms available to move into. But Josh was able to get my dad into a private ER room, which was hard to come by in the COVID surge, so that my mom, sister, and I could be with him. With that privacy, we were able to call our dad’s brother so they could speak one more time and we were then able to FaceTime our brother so that we could spend our dad’s last hours together as a family.

Josh was both tender and steady as he helped all of us transition from our dad being on blood pressure medication that was keeping our dad alive to the morphine drip that made our dad comfortable in his final moments. Our dad wanted to die at home and though that became impossible I think our dad felt he was at home in that peaceful room surrounded by his wife, two daughters, and son.

Later that evening after our dad had died, I remember walking out of the hospital doors and being so thankful that Josh was the nurse on shift that day. Josh brought such comfort to us during the darkest time in our lives. Even though we only knew Josh for half a day it felt like we’d known him much longer. I live just blocks away from Sutter Davis Hospital and drive by every day. I always hope that I’ll spot Josh so that I can pull over and thank him. I’m using this nomination as our way of showing our deep gratitude and appreciation for our nurse, Josh.