So there is this new grad. She has passion in her soul and love in her heart. She is still new and is still learning the role, but she has something that cannot be taught: compassion and empathy. She feels with her whole body and her love for people is palpable with every patient interaction.

She recently supported a patient through the most heartbreaking scenario, including the birth of her daughters. Normally this would be a triumphant and celebrated event – one that as a prenatal center nurse, she wouldn’t normally be involved in, but for this patient, delivery came with tears and heartache as one of her two babies was too small to survive outside the womb. Sara was able to be with this patient as her support person as she did not have anyone else with her during this difficult time. Sara was with her during the placement of her spinal, and during the prep for her C-section, she held her hand during the procedure; she even held the smaller baby to the patient in the OR while the baby passed away so that the patient could be with that baby every second of her short life. After the patient was in recovery, Sara even worked with the labor and delivery team to create the best possible keepsakes for the patient to take home to remember her lost little one. It would have been easy for Sara to let this patient go to labor and delivery to have her babies and let their team do what they do best. They have an amazing staff and do this kind of work regularly. The staff is compassionate and caring and the patient's experience would have been fine, but Sara knew in her heart she needed to step in. She went above and beyond to turn a terrible scenario into the best possible experience for the patient.

Before discharge the patient wrote: “Hi Sara, I just wanted to say thank you again for being with me in one of the hardest moments of my life. No words can describe how thankful I am. I wish I could hug you again. Thank you for being the amazing person you are. I love and appreciate you so much. Thank you.”

Sara may or may not realize how much of an impact she made on this patient, but this is not the only time this has happened. Sara continually strives to give patient-centered, holistic care routed in compassion and kindness. She’s already a great person and an amazing nurse. I cannot wait to see what a couple of years of experience do to develop the skills and attributes she already has. It is truly a privilege to work with her.