I think Kelly is an outstanding nurse and coworker, and hope she gets recognized for all her hard work and caring attitude! Kelly works nights, and although as a day shift worker I spend less time working “with” her, the overlap we do have has been so impressive to me that I wanted to share that with others. I tend to arrive at work early to set myself up for the day and as most of us in health care know, change of shift is always when things go awry. This particular day I walked into a very busy ICU, with many very ill patients. It has been a long, emotionally trying year for everyone, especially nurses caring day after day for covid patients. But you would be hard-pressed to see that fatigue weighing on Kelly, as she works each day with intense determination, compassion, and a very caring bedside manner. This was the scene I saw as Kelly was caring for a very sick man, who had a racing heartbeat that was not breaking despite every effort by the team. See, during the day there is an abundance of support staff, managers, physicians, and other nurses to help out and guide you when a problem arises. At night, there are fewer staff members and Kelly was not only in charge of the entire ICU, acting as a resource for her coworkers that shift, but she was also running lead on caring for her patients, under the guidance of a remote doctor in AICU and a cardiologist on the phone. She handled the entire situation with a calm presence, knowledge of exactly what to do for her patient and why, and most importantly remembering that the comfort of her patient and easing his fears during this process was just as important as fixing the problem.

This level of kindness and professionalism portrayed by Kelly is not an isolated incident. I have seen her cry at the loss of a patient, hold the hand of a family member that needs extra support, react quickly and calmly in an emergency situation and universally show compassion for her patients, offering them dignity at their most vulnerable moment. Kelly represents all of the best qualities of being a nurse, and does it daily with no expectation of recognition or thanks. She performs all of her duties with a smile or a kind word and is not only a wonderful caregiver but is also an excellent coworker who is the first to jump in and help out.

I am proud to work with such a skilled and wonderful staff at Newton ICU, but coworkers like Kelly are an inspiration to both myself and others, and raise the bar of success for everyone who steps foot in the ICU.