My mother has severe dementia. When she went under Susan's nursing care in the hospital, she had limited ability to articulate words and needed a lot more time to understand even small needs. Susan understood that a person with dementia emulates the mood of their caregiver, i.e. if you feel rushed or upset, they will feel the same way and have even more difficulty responding. I observed that Susan was very busy with her phone buzzing every time she was with mom or she had someone coming into the room to ask her a question. Yet, she kept her poise and spoke to my mom as though she was her only patient. My mom responded to Susan by saying her name, when she needed to use the restroom, or if she was hungry which was amazing for her. I was in and out of the hospital daily as an advocate for my mother and Susan was always on top of what was going on with her, beyond what was written in her chart. She seemed to also understand, and care, when my mom was feeling anxious about something and knew exactly what to do. She was on top of wound care and I felt totally comforted and relieved when we needed to leave Mom alone, knowing she would pass on to the night nurse exactly what Mom needed. Susan was an advocate for Mom and understood that people with dementia can lose the ability to swallow or eat quickly. When we were finally given the 'green light' to feed mom, Susan even assisted the technician to clean and move her to her chair so that she could eat as soon as the food arrived. She also noted that Mom needed to be in an upright position and totally awake before anyone would attempt to feed her. We decided it was best for family only to feed her since we knew what "awake" needed to be. She then made sure that when a morning tray came before we arrived that the technician not attempt to feed her. This was a huge catch since at that point Mom was just getting her swallowing down and we did not want her to aspirate! Thank you Susan for the extra care for my mom. Your patience, knowledge of dementia, nursing expertise and bed-side manner meant a lot to us.