Years may pass, but that doesn't mean a nurse's care is forgotten. Three years after her mom first was admitted to Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire, her daughter asked other staff to help her track down a special nurse's name. They found her: Sarah McIlquham, a registered nurse in Neuro/Peds/Trauma. "While my mom was sick, Sarah exemplified all the characteristics of quality care," the daughter writes in nominating McIlquham for the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses. The letter thanked McIlquham for her qualities: "Compassion, intelligence, competence, accessibility, empathy and responsibility." And described her with these adjectives: "Comprehensive, supportive, trustworthy and patient centered." Because her husband is a physician, the daughter's family has added insight into health care, but that didn't stop them from appreciating McIlquham's attentiveness. "Before my husband got here, I would report to him each night about the level of care mom was getting, and he was amazed by the wonderful things I told him about Sarah," the daughter writes. "When he got here and witnessed it for himself, he, too, admitted he had never experienced a nurse quite like her. We can't even imagine getting better care from a nurse than we got from Sarah." For McIlquham, who knew in fourth grade that she wanted to be a nurse, her efforts are part of "doing my job." But it's a job she does better with the help of her co-workers, she says. "We can just tell when we need help; we read each other." As for herself: "I just like to take care of people," McIlquham says.