While working as a nurse in our outpatient wound care center, I was in a treatment room with a patient when I tripped and broke my arm. The patient ran into the hall and got me help. Melissa Malley was the first to come to my aid. I was leaning on my broken arm and screaming out in excruciating pain. She sat on the ground beside me and took the weight of my body on hers in order to relieve the pressure.
From the floor, she directed other staff members to call 911, assist the patient in another room for care, clean up the scene, call my family, and perform comfort measures for me. When the ambulance picked me up, Melissa followed to the emergency room and stayed by my side.
When the pain medication was ineffective, she did her best to make me comfortable in other ways and got the nurse to get an order for different pain meds. I feel that she goes above and beyond every day but during that incident she was stellar. I already admired Melissa for the way she took care of the patients that we saw together, but that day she became my Guardian Angel.