Melody is one of those extraordinary nurses who always finds extra ways to connect with and support families of the NICU babies. She is interested in knowing the whole story, getting to know all about the family and what they bring to the NICU experience. She likes to make moms and their babies in NICU feel special and supported, whether finding the perfect special outfit and matching blanket for the isolette, offering a genuine hug and some loving words of encouragement to both the mother and the baby, or memory making with families experiencing a poor prognosis. She sets a high bar for her routine standard of family centered care, serving as an excellent role model for those new nurses in training that she regularly mentors.

Recently, a NICU mother's social history warranted CPS involvement upon admission. It is not difficult to approach these situations with preconceived ideas about how this mother did not take care of herself during the pregnancy. A court order mandated that the baby would be leaving the hospital with an unrelated foster home. This fact did not deter Melody from finding ways to engage and encourage this mother, who expressed goals of wanting to parent this baby. In an emotional "last visit", Melody took extra care with the mother to make it meaningful. She provided special photos for the mother to take with her, as well as expressing her sincere belief that she could overcome personal obstacles to reach her goals.

Her nursing orientee and I witnessed a genuine compassion that I am certain strengthened this mother as she left the unit. Melody's hugs and affirmation of this mother are typical of how she approaches her NICU families. This is just one of many examples from Melody I have seen that warrants recognition of the standards of care we should always strive to meet. She is always going above and beyond, and helping patients and their families feel more comfortable in difficult situations, and is an excellent role model for our next generation of health care providers.