Marilyn’s clinical skills and especially her organizational and compassionate care exemplify the kind of nurse that our patients, their families, and our staff recognize as an outstanding role model as per criteria. Marilyn joined the ER as a Medical/Surgical Nurse in the transitional care area but soon expanded her knowledge and skills in order to be fully functional throughout the Emergency Department. During patient surveys, her name is frequently mentioned as being exceptionally attentive to the needs of her patients. She has a very humble demeanor but still attends to her patients and additional tasks in a professional and assertive manner.

One example of her humble demeanor was when a VIP patient presented her with a Rolex watch as a gift for rendering good care to him, she initially did not want to accept the gift as this is her duty to render high-quality care to all her patients. Not to offend the patient as per Arabic Culture, she eventually accepted the gift, but immediately presented the gift to her immediate supervisor and suggested that the watch need to either be returned to the patient or be sold and the funds to be shared amongst all the staff in the unit. The watch was handed over to the patient relations manager, who returned the watch to the patient with an appropriate explanation as to why we are not allowed to receive gifts.