April 2026 Honoree
Shontel Spencer, BSN, RN
My sister had been in the ICU for about 5 days, and it was clear that she would not recover. She had been put on a ventilator to facilitate several tests to try to help her, but it had been clear all her adult life that she did not want to be kept breathing by artificial means. The first time I met Shontel, she mentioned the plan for the day, but it did not seem to include removing the ventilator. So kindly, she let me express how important it was for my sister to be breathing on her own…how she truly would have hated to have her last breath be through a machine.
Shontel let me have my say, and I didn’t really know what would happen next. She walked right into my sister's room and asked the 2 young technicians to stop trying to take my sister's blood gases, and then went to speak to the doctor in charge. From that moment on, the feel of the whole day changed. From feeling that I may have had a fight on my hands to get the ventilator out, I felt calm and at peace. My sister was important, not finding out what was wrong. Shontel spent the whole day making my sister as comfortable as possible…lowering the lights, shutting off any sounds that weren’t necessary, providing the medication that kept her limbs from flailing.
On such an impactful day, the day of my sweet sister’s death, Shontel changed what I remember about that week… from an anxious, painful experience to a soft end to my sister's suffering. Shontel is a kind, empathetic woman, but also a woman of action, doing what was needed to best help her patient and her patient's family. Intermountain Health in Murray is privileged to have such a nurse on staff. I thank her from the bottom of my heart.
Shontel let me have my say, and I didn’t really know what would happen next. She walked right into my sister's room and asked the 2 young technicians to stop trying to take my sister's blood gases, and then went to speak to the doctor in charge. From that moment on, the feel of the whole day changed. From feeling that I may have had a fight on my hands to get the ventilator out, I felt calm and at peace. My sister was important, not finding out what was wrong. Shontel spent the whole day making my sister as comfortable as possible…lowering the lights, shutting off any sounds that weren’t necessary, providing the medication that kept her limbs from flailing.
On such an impactful day, the day of my sweet sister’s death, Shontel changed what I remember about that week… from an anxious, painful experience to a soft end to my sister's suffering. Shontel is a kind, empathetic woman, but also a woman of action, doing what was needed to best help her patient and her patient's family. Intermountain Health in Murray is privileged to have such a nurse on staff. I thank her from the bottom of my heart.
Thank you, Shontel, for your exceptional compassion, advocacy, and dedication to your patients. You truly make a difference.
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