Mario started his career at Lovelace as a tech and worked his way up to charge nurse in the emergency room. I am old enough to be his mother but Mario makes me feel safe when I come to work when he is in charge. Mario always promotes mutual respect amongst all disciplines, not just our fellow co-workers. In all my years of nursing, I have never had such a charge nurse that exhibits the level of professionalism Mario possesses by displaying his positive attitude and compassion towards patient, family and coworker service. Mario is a rare person and professional. He never hesitates to take on a patient load when the ER is overly busy. Mario is always there when you have a code blue, stemi or stroke alert offering assistance in any way possible. Mario takes patients upstairs when admitted allowing the staff to concentrate on other duties at hand.
I personally recall a code blue I had; the patient was 57 years old (same age of my husband when he passed). The patient had been in the ED 2 hours prior to coding, he took his wife's hand told her he loved her, kissed her good-bye. I held it together during the code that lasted 1.5 hours but afterwards fell apart. Mario had his assignment load, but he talked to me over the telephone and put my pieces back together as only this nurse can. I watch him being patient with new staff teaching them over and over how to do restraint paperwork correctly and transfer papers. Mario's patience is remarkable. I often say when I grow up I want to be just like him. I have worked with many nurses over my many years, but none are more deserving of the DAISY Award than this one.