One day Karel found out her patient and her husband had their 54th wedding anniversary coming up the next day. The husband was discouraged that his wife was going to be in the hospital on this very special day. Karel told him to invite his kids in instructing him to bring pictures of the wedding. She bought flowers, and decorated the conference room. The patient's husband wrote, "The party was a tremendous morale booster for our entire family. We had cake, and champagne (non-alcoholic of course), and we were able to have a nice day."

Karel was also nominated by her PDS, Dave Vander Ark, MSN, RN who wrote a different kind of story about a catatonic patient she cared for: "Karel went in the room, knelt down next to the patient, held her hand, and introduced herself. She then talked about the patient's children, and how important the patient was to her family and her husband. She knew this from working with the patient in the past. As she finished talking, for the first time in several days, the patient turned her head and responded to another person. She smiled faintly and began to cry. It was the healing touch of the caring relationship that was the first step to break through her catatonia."

Karel is an extraordinary Nurse!