It is with great pleasure that I nominated Rebecca Johnson for the DAISY Award. She was my nurse when I was in the ER. I believe she is an angel with hidden wings. I was brought to the ER by ambulance after a fall on the playground with my 4-year-old son. He had climbed up a rock wall and was scared to come down. We were the only 2 on the playground, so I climbed up to get him. He was holding on to my neck and waist and we were climbing down. After about two moves down the rock wall, I lost my footing and fell about 5 feet with him. Thankfully my son did not have a single scratch on him. It was obvious my lower leg was broken due to deformity, but at the time I just did not realize how badly.
My son walked around to help me find my phone that I had dropped. I could not move. I immediately called 911, and first responders arrived quickly. I was so afraid I was going to pass out from the pain. Soon after the first responders arrived the county EMS arrived and was able to start an IV. They gently wrapped and stabilized my leg for transport; they gently and cautiously lifted me onto the stretcher. During transport, the EMT called and received permission to give me additional pain medication due to my level of pain. That is when I arrived in the ED and met Rebecca. She jumped in and started taking excellent care of me as though I was the only patient around.
Rebecca continued monitoring my pain, keeping me as comfortable as possible. She went and got my family by my bedside. An ER doctor came in and assessed me, and advised they would have to set my leg, I was worried, but he assured me I would be under procedural sedation and wouldn't be in pain; the tibia and fibula were both broken. The true compassion of Rebecca shined through when a Resident Doctor stepped in to take over. The ER doctor was with someone else and the Resident began prepping the "leg set" procedure. I questioned him, my family even questioned him, and he said he was just getting things ready. He then began setting my leg without starting the procedural sedation. My pain level was out of control.
Rebecca quickly got the ER doctor and he took over. I do not know everything that happened next since I was losing awareness of my surroundings due to pain and once the sedation medicine kicked in, I was in the awakened unconscious stated. What I remember most about Rebecca is when the sedation wore off. She never left my side. She was monitoring my blood pressure because she said it was dangerously high. A nurse came into the ED room I was in and offered for her to go to lunch. Without hesitation or even looking up from her computer, she replied, "No, I am NOT leaving her." They offered again saying it was ok, and she shook her head and said just said, "No". She stayed with me until they moved me to a room. I will never forget Rebecca and the compassion she showed to me that day.