Keli is well known on our unit for her positive outlook and patient connection, but she recently made a tremendous effort to support a patient and his family during an extraordinarily hard time in their life. Last month we had the pleasure of caring for a member of a local fire department, who struggled with COVID and required ECMO support. As a resident of that same local community, Keli made an instant connection with this patient and his family. Tragically, this patient and his fire chief were both hospitalized at UF Health for COVID, and his fire chief eventually succumbed to the disease. When his wife shared this with Keli, she put her heart and soul into caring for this man. When asked why she had such a sense of duty in caring for him, she said that after the fire chief passed, she felt that our patient “need[ed] to live for the greater good of the community”. Keli had a connection to the local police department and called in a favor to get a t-shirt from his fire department. The day after the fire chief was brought home and laid to rest, Keli arranged to be assigned to this patient’s care and wore the shirt from his department hoping to inspire a will to fight. Keli’s devotion to this patient and his family did not stop there. After caring for him in his local department’s shirt, she had it framed and hung in his room for him to see during his recovery.

On another occasion, Keli and our other staff overheard that his wife wanted to arrange a showing for him from the roof of the parking garage. Various nurses and ECMO specialists from our unit assisted his family in coordinating a large showing of community support on the roof of the South Tower parking garage. On the day of this event, Keli came to work on her day off to ensure a nurse was available to bring this patient to the large hallway with the best view of the garage.

Keli went out of her way to assist in the noteworthy grand gestures for this patient, but this same level of devotion can be seen in her care every day. Keli has a knack for building patient rapport and is frequently seen checking in with her patients days later, even when she has a different patient assignment. Keli is well-loved by her patients and our staff alike. Despite her significant contributions to the culture of our unit, she remains humble, with a dedication to her patients above all else.