Both my husband and I nominate Mandeep Sandhu, aka “Mandy”, for the DAISY Award. During our six day stay at your hospital we encountered many fine nurses but it was Mandy who stood out not only as one of your finest but also the one who went beyond the call of duty. She not only demonstrated all the wonderful traits of being a top notch RN but also showed so much compassion not only for the patient but for me as his wife. Her kindness and thoughtfulness will never be forgotten by us. Without a doubt she exemplifies the type of role model any nurse would be proud to become.

J was admitted to your hospital in June as an emergency patient while we were traveling up north to visit our son. We left Fresno that afternoon looking forward to our road trip ahead of us when J suffered a TIA. While doing some testing, the doctors had discovered he had a blood clot in his heart on his pacemenaker wire.

One the weekend Mandy was J’s RN. She knew that we were from Fresno and that our vacation was cut short due to J’s condition. She also knew that I was also a RN in telemetry in a hospital here in Fresno. We soon became fast friends and it was comforting to know she understood how stressful it was for us not knowing when we would be able to make the drive home.

As you well know nurses are the advocate for the patient and Mandy did just that. On Sunday morning one of the doctors had said J could be discharged if the other doctor also agreed to it. Mandy knew that we had a four hour trip home so she took it upon herself to give the second doctor a call instead of us waiting and wondering when he would make his rounds. She also knew that I had been staying in a hotel all week long with our dog. The doctor thought it would be better if we stayed one more day. Once Mandy delivered the news I decided instead of checking back into the hotel I would stay at the hospital with Jim in case the doctor came in early and discharged him, that way we could get an early start on our trip back home. That is when Mandy extended the invitation for me to stay at her house. She thought it would be better than me staying at the hotel again. She also thought I would rest better and that way I would not be tired for the drive the next day. She told me to think about it and then we exchanged phone numbers. Both J and I were very touched with Mandy’s invitation to open her home for me. We were also aware that not all nurses would have taken the time to call the doctor but would have waited for them to make their rounds. We both felt that she was making it her priority to see if we were able to go home thus making us feel that she truly cared about us.

As much as I would have liked to stay with Mandy, I decided I had spent too many nights away from J so I stayed the night at the hospital. Later that evening Mandy called to see how we were doing. I reassured her that we were doing well and that I would call her when we made it home. Come morning the doctors agreed that it was safe for J to go home. Much to our delight we made it back to Fresno by 3 in the afternoon. We were very fortunate not to have any traffic on the way home. That afternoon I called Mandy to let her know that we made it home safely. I told her we will never forget her kindness. I knew in my heart that I had made a friend for life.