(DAISY Award was presented to Telemetry unit where Maribell used to work, she passed away in 2022.) Here is what the patient said:

I have been an active man without any health issues. I would even go as far as saying I am in better shape at fifty years of age than most thirty-year-olds are. Being this healthy, you can imagine the fear set in the day my wife drove me to the ER for chest pain that put me into tears. The ER ran their tests and informed me that I needed to stay the night to have a procedure in the morning to look at a possible blockage in my heart. The fear sirens got louder and more intense with every word that came out of the doctor and nurses mouths. The following morning, I went for an angiogram and found out I had 98% occlusion in my heart, and I needed to have open heart surgery.

I pride myself on my health and could not believe the condition of my heart. The fear of transferring to another facility for someone to open my heart was the most terrifying experience I have ever had. My family never left my bedside while visiting hours were active. At nighttime, when family leaves is when patients are left with their thoughts and fears of what their reality might be…

Maribell was the support that eased every fear when my family was unable to do so. She was the first nurse to sit down at my bedside and attentively listen to my fears, anxiety, concerns, and worries. She shared some of the challenges she was going through in her personal life, and gave me hope for my own. I thought several times “if this young lady can overcome everything she has, I surely can overcome a blockage.” I never had a nurse take the time to care the way she did. It was as if her sole purpose of caring for me that night was to take all of my fears and carry them to herself so I could rest and heal.

I am forever grateful for her care, compassion, and encouragement as I went through one of the most terrifying moments no one should have to go through.