On my dad's second day in the hospital, Judy was his nurse. She really stands out as a role model nurse and I believe she should be recognized. We were there most the day on this day so we had a lot of interaction with her. Judy was very attentive and also was great at explaining things to us and helping us to understand. On this day, in particular, my dad started to take a turn for the worse and his health was declining pretty rapidly. I remember several occasions where my dad was tossing/turning crying out for help and several times even trying to get out of his bed. Judy was always right there to help and really did everything possible to help. She did everything to make my dad comfortable and was very caring from her calming facial expressions to her gentle touch of my dad's arm to try to calm him down and talk to him. On this day we met with many different doctors and towards the evening they pulled us into a private room to explain the options for my dad giving us the option for a ventilator or to provide comfort care. I believe this was the end of Judy's shift, but she stayed with us to meet privately with the doctors and helped to console us and to help us to understand more what was going on. This really stood out to us as a family. I remember when my siblings and I were leaving the hospital that night, almost simultaneously, we all started saying how great Judy was as a nurse to our dad and that we should nominate her (we saw the sign in the hospital).
It was one of the most difficult times in our lives as we were having to make very difficult decisions, very emotional time as well. Judy recognized that and did everything in her power to comfort us, while also taking care of our dad. I could tell a few times that she was feeling a bit emotional as well, but she always held it together and was excellent in what she does. We will always remember her kind heart and treatment at such a difficult time.
My dad passed away in the hospital that Friday afternoon. Everyone we dealt with in this department had the utmost sincerity and kindness in helping us as a family through such an awful time. From techs or nurses coming in to check vitals, offer us drinks and always checking in if anything we need, to the doctors helping us to make the best decision for our dad's care. The staff in this dept should be used as role models to new hires/interns on how to be a good patient caregiver.