My son was born in the SDU and was transferred immediately to the NICU for life-saving treatment for having a CDH, pulmonary hypertension, and being premature. While I believe all your nurses demonstrate amazing care, I believe that Nurse Marina goes above and beyond. Being a NICU parent is sad, exhausting, and scary. We have heard more and more unexpected news about our son’s diagnosis and we still have to roll with the punches. Marina was there for my husband and me when we got some pretty difficult news about our son. She was compassionate, explained what was going on in terms that we could understand, and was not frustrated when we asked a million questions.

As a NICU parent, I often feel like there is no way that I can help my son due to the lack of medical background that I have. Marina let us be partners when completing our son’s nighttime care routine. She explained to us how he receives a bath in the hospital and let us help in the process. Little things like her trying to style his hair afterward put a smile on our faces and demonstrate how she goes the extra mile. When we asked if he could have something to look at in bed so he wasn’t just staring at this breathing tube, Marina searched through Child Life and found an ocean life toy for him to look at. She put it up at night and left us a note with the Angel Eye saying “Hi Mom and Dad Love X” with the new toy.

Finally, after holding him one night his heart and oxygen amount became very low in the transition back to bed. Marina took complete charge of the situation and “bagged” him to bring his stats back to where they should be. My husband and I were both traumatized by the event, but it was comforting to see how quickly our nurse jumped in to save him. While we can’t say enough wonderful things about all the nurses on staff, we were extra grateful to have Marina for the past three days.