Ryan is a very compassionate nurse, who not only cares about his patients, but other staff members as well. I witnessed Ryan with a recent same day surgery, pre-operative patient who was very emotional and did not have family with her for support. She was to arrive at 5:30 a.m. for a 7:30 a.m. surgery, but her alarm did not go off and she woke to the phone call from the hospital at 06:45 a.m., wondering if she was still planning to come in for her surgery. She arrived flustered and very apologetic. When she said her mother would be her contact person on her forms, I asked if her mother would be in later in the day. She said she didn't think her mother would be able to come, due to her work. I also learned that she had just relocated to our area and that her husband was overseas with the military. Ryan arrived at the patient's bedside and introduced himself. With Ryan present, we learned that our patient had just buried her father earlier that month. By this point, she was very tearful, anxious and emotional. To add to all of this, there ended up being a delay in the laboratory, delaying her surgical procedure ever more. This was when Ryan stepped in, going above and beyond. He grabbed the chair in the room and slid it next to the patient's bed as if he was a member of her family. He talked with her about anything and everything, easing her anxiety and helping her relax. I even heard her laughing! This is not the first time I have seen Ryan show such compassion toward his patients. He truly cares about them and about his co-workers and it shows.