I cared for a patient who emergently came in for an aneurysm repair. Her husband and 2 children visited and were distraught by what they observed. Both children decided not to visit until their mother was on the floor and normal again. She had a few girl-friends that came daily and they felt that they just could not help the husband gain any ground on the situation at hand. Upon waking their mother had a CVA. A week had passed and the husband was very angry and was unable to talk to his children about their mother. He just told them she was still in ICU.

Shannon took the initiative to spend over 2 hours with this father and validate his fears and let him know from her own experiences with her father that it was ok to be angry. She did sit and talk at length with him and go over scenarios on how to approach and tell his children about their mother. He told her about the things that his daughter would say like I miss mom and he would just clam up. Shannon told him that would be the perfect opportunity to open up the conversation. That night he was able to go home and talk with his children and the next day they came in and visited in the ICU with their mother. Within the week she was able to move to progressive care and he was very thankful that Shannon was such an advocate. This husband was extremely standoffish at first but after all this he looked for Shannon everytime he came into the unit.

Shannon is such an excellent patient and family advocate. She truly deserves to be recognized.