My husband was a patient under Sara’s care. Upon entering the room, Sara greeted us with such professionalism. She introduced herself and was genuinely concerned about my husband‘s condition. She welcomed us with a warm heart ,and she listened to my concerns and responded with such caring eyes and a warm voice. She never interrupted us and let us both voice our concerns. She made us feel confident right off the bat that my husband would recover.

The warm tone of her voice calmed me, knowing that she is taking great care of my husband when I am not there. She was also training Adeline, who was also very kind and sweet. Sara took her time in explaining things to Adeline, while she showed her how to check the progress of my husband‘s stomach.

Sara also checked on my husband when he wasn’t her patient. She popped in to see how he was progressing and if he needed anything. She went above and beyond the call of duty. She also talked to me outside the hospital room to let me know the details of my husband's progress. She made me feel so good and confident.

I love that she called us “love”. It meant a lot to us. She is the best and kindest nurse we ever met. Everyone should have a “Sara” nurse. High praises to her!

***

I was admitted to 5 North for six days for severe intractable vomiting, which I view as being caused by periods of intense stress or anxiety in my life. Many people fail to understand this about me and assume other causes for my symptoms, and I generally feel misunderstood and unheard when trying to seek treatment for my issues. Generally, this results in not getting effective treatment, which leads to apathy and so on.

For the final two days of my stay, Sara was my Nurse. On the second to last day, Sara came into my room at the start of her shift in the morning, and totally of her own accord chose to take the time to sit on my bed with me to ask me questions about what I believed was causing my vomiting and to gain a better understanding of me and my experiences and perspectives, just so she could try to work out the best possible way to help me overcome my current and future issues.

By asking me questions and genuinely listening to my responses, Sara was able to identify that I could benefit from psychiatric assistance, and took it upon herself to work behind the scenes with my hospitalist doctor to arrange and coordinate additional care for me. Sara could have just given me my medications, managed my symptoms, provided compassion, and gotten me to a state where I could be discharged.

But instead, she went above and beyond by actually taking the time to try to understand me and my symptoms and problems, how I feel they manifest, solely for my own benefit and at the expense of her valuable time. I was both touched and moved by Sara's completely unprompted choice to take the time to do this for me, and the care coordination that resulted has already yielded a new medication that is benefiting me as well as a path forward for behavioral health services through the IOP program that I would otherwise have had a very difficult time understanding or accessing.

Sara didn't just take care of me, Sara took the time to look out for my best interests as a human being, as a person, not just as a patient. I believe her choice to do that was an act of extremely commendable and selfless compassion, which is a rare light in a dark world. Anyone capable of that deserves to be recognized, in my opinion.