On Christmas Eve, I witnessed such compassionate care from Rick. He and I were both working and it was an extremely busy and emotional day. There was a patient on the unit whom he had been taking care of for a couple of days. The patient and her family were from another city, about 3 hours away. The family had been traveling back and forth for almost a week to visit their loved one. The family came to the nurses' station to speak to him. The daughter was very emotional because she was very stressed and wanted to stay home with her children for Christmas Day. She was conflicted because she didn't want her mother to be alone on Christmas day, but she was fatigued and needed a break. I watched as he consoled the family. He explained that the daughter had to take care of herself and we would take great care of the patient and would spend as much of Christmas with her as possible. I watched as they discussed a plan to make the family feel comfortable with leaving for the holiday. The family brought in a gift for the patient and some flowers. He worked with them late on Christmas Eve to make sure that the patient received the gift right on Christmas Day. He hand-delivered the gift and the flowers to the patient on Christmas Day to let her know that her family was thinking of her. He went the extra mile for this family to be able to enjoy their holiday outside of the hospital, and also for the patient to feel loved and cared for. This is only one of the many things that I have witnessed in my time working with him. He is one of the most compassionate caretakers I have ever known.