While Sandericka was still fairly new to the VA, we (our night shift team) witnessed her save a patient that everyone (nurses, doctors, family) expected to die. He was dying at the beginning of our shift. He had those "tombstone" ST waves on his ECG monitoring, and we just knew he was going to have an MI. The crash cart was sitting near his room. But she didn't give up on him. She worked with doctors, diligently, she was running here and there, everything to hold him together. She didn't even take a lunch break.

By morning time, the tombstone ST waves were gone, and the patient was stable. He was extubated and was talking in a couple of days. Since then, Sandericka has been trusted with some of the toughest MICU patients because of her compassion, strong spirit, knowledge, and critical thinking skills. Sometimes, it doesn't seem fair because the workload she has should be handled by two nurses. So, when I notice it, I do my best to be available if she needs help, but she rarely asks for help. She's definitely one of the strongest, if not the strongest, nurse on our MICU and is a total asset to CAVHS.