My mother was in a car accident and was rushed to your hospital. She was in tremendous pain due to crushed vertebrae and a broken sternum. Sam was one of the nurses assigned to her. He could tell she was scared and hurting. He was so gentle with her and very reassuring. My sisters and I arrived the next day. Sam was so kind and reassuring to us as a worried family. He could get Mom to do things for him that the other nurses couldn’t simply by being Sam. He was friendly with us but was also not afraid to be stern with us when it was time to let Mom rest. He was so diplomatic. He simply said “Your mom is going to be out for most of the afternoon. Now would be a good time for you all to leave and go do something outside of the hospital.” We needed to hear that. We needed to know that the staff were taking good care of our mother and we would trust them. We were disappointed that Sam was not her nurse for the remainder of her stay but he was kind enough to pop in and say hello to her and check on how she was doing. For a patient and family that was 9 hours away from their home, Sam had a way of making us all feel safe! We all needed that. Sam truly deserves this award and the recognition!