My grandfather, 91 years old, on dialysis, with a pacemaker, and was in ICU after falling and breaking his left hip, post his partial hip replacement, had very low blood pressure that required a special IV medication that needed to be monitored 24/7. This nurse was a tremendous GOD-SEND. I had never seen a nurse with her amount of energy, attention to detail, and bedside manners. This nurse did her job above and beyond the call of nursing. I kept calling her the "Bentley/Rolls-Royce" of nurses because I’ve seen my fair share of hospitals between two elderly grandparents and never came across someone like her. Even the other nurses who tended to my grandfather in the ICU weren’t like this nurse.

Due to our distrust of hospital systems when it comes to my grandfather (who is also hard of hearing, and comprehension low due to early onset Alzheimer’s) my sister and I would rotate to ensure things were being done properly (which meant as much as possible overlapping the times we were visiting to show our familial presence). My first introduction to this nurse was the morning I walked in shortly after the night shift change. When I came into the room Nancy was wiping down every surface in my grandfather’s room - the chair, the counters, the sink, the bedside drawers, the remote…there wasn't an inch in that room she didn't wipe down. As a self-proclaimed germaphobe, I appreciated this level of attention to detail because sometimes thorough cleanings can be overlooked. Nancy is an exemplar when it comes to taking pride in one’s work environment.

She exhibited a unique attention to detail while caring for my grandfather because, after the wipe down, she did an assessment and started realizing things were missing in my grandfather’s room that would make his stay in ICU more comfortable and brought them into the room. I HIGHLY appreciated this because you don’t know ‘what’ is missing if the nurses don’t provide you with it. Mind you, my grandfather had been in the ICU for three days and we hadn’t seen this level of detail prior. Nancy cared for my grandfather with respect, empathy, and awareness of “what can I do to help this patient’s recovery.” Nancy is seriously built differently. Nancy became someone whom our family trusted, and we would even skip a couple of hours and not overlap our visiting when we found out the nurse was his day shift nurse – we trusted her work, care, and attention to my grandfather. Nancy was rotating my grandfather every two hours, and would do light upper body movement, and lung exercises to help his muscles stay active (she was the ONLY nurse that did this). On the days this nurse cared for my grandfather, we saw such a vibrancy, and I knew it was because of the work Nancy was doing. He even did well with Physical Therapy on the days she was caring for him. She helped improve my grandfather’s health – and that meant so much. Nancy truly embodies what it means to be part of a patient’s journey that doesn’t begin and end with giving medication and checking vital signs, but rather she took into consideration the whole person of my grandfather.

I can’t overstate how DIFFERENT the nurse was from other nurses. I remember the first day I met Nancy, she reminded me that I needed to take care of myself and offered me an opportunity to take a break to get water. She wanted to make sure while I was taking care of my grandfather that, I was also taking care of myself. She never rushed when she came in the room to do checks on him, and she provided a paper that listed out the TV stations (though minor, it meant a lot because it was painful flipping through channels without knowing which channel was which one). I don't have the words to describe a nurse because she supersedes the generic phrases of praise for someone who goes above and beyond. She's a diamond in the rough, 24k gold, a priceless jewel that a collector wouldn’t sell for anything in the world. She’s someone who took care of my grandfather so well he became spoiled by her, and even with early onset Alzheimer’s, he remembers Nancy. When he was downgraded and moved to a non-ICU room, he complained that the nurses he had weren’t like Nancy and asked for her. I have to admit when she wasn’t my grandfather’s nurse I watched her having the same care and concern for other patients in ICU. We would be so bummed when she wasn’t assigned to my grandfather, but we understood that everyone deserved greatness. All we have is thanks to nancy for doing her job x10. I thank Nancy for the days when I heard she was on duty for my grandfather, which allowed me a moment to “breathe again” and take care of myself.

Thank you, Nancy, for providing high-quality healthcare to my grandfather and myself by taking my mental health and well-being into consideration (I’ve never experienced that). Kaiser Permanente Downey Medical Center would do well to allow nurses the opportunity to train other nurses on what it looks like to do their job, in excellence, and be exceptional – Nancy is THAT good.