Samantha Ratcliff, Staff Nurse

Samantha was able to keep my family member calm and treat my father with dignity and respect, even though he was not lucid and was screaming awful things at her. He (at that moment) was not capable of understanding who she was or why he was in the hospital, and in his stupor, he decided she was trying to hurt him. Samantha was able to defuse the situation and calm him down without ever losing her kind and positive attitude.

Of course, when he recovered and was able to comprehend what was going on, he was totally embarrassed when we told him how he acted. She was very gracious when he apologized for his behavior. Samantha was also very sweet to my mother, who was understandably upset by the whole situation. It takes a special person with compassion and skills to be a nurse, not only knowing how to de-escalate a bad situation but also maintaining a professional and warm attitude.