As a former ICU nurse and a Sanford employee, I paid close attention to the care that my father was receiving when he was hospitalized for 4 nights for a craniotomy/aneurysm clipping. It brought me great joy to see the hard work and action that was being done, particularly by one of my father's nurses, Marie Nordahl.
We were fortunate to have Marie as our nurse for 3 days. She was dedicated to seeing improvement in my father's pain level, activity, incentive spirometer, cognition, and even moving his bowels! One could tell just by watching her that she was courageous and passionate about the health and healing of my father. One other element that really took me for a surprise and by no means was expected was the care and attention that she showed my family and me. Marie was able to care for our entire family during my dad's stay on the ICU. As I would sit and watch her interaction with my father, I could tangibly see the vision and mission of Sanford Health exemplified in all of her actions.