Suzy was and continues to be the Wound Care nurse for my husband, with her care beginning in May, 2019.  He was given his diagnosis of Bladder Cancer at the start of 2019, and had surgery that removed his bladder, a day that forever changed life as we had known it.  

So, how do you teach a 30 year career Marine to apply appliances and care for his ostomy?  You put him in contact with a registered nurse like Suzy!  Her extensive nursing knowledge and expertise in ostomy care have given us both the confidence to succeed during home applications.  She has been more than patient and understanding while we both initially learned about the different products.  There hasn’t been a question she cannot answer, and she has ensured that he has enough products.  She promptly returns our phone calls, and was even available at a moment’s notice for an unscheduled clinic appointment, which we believe is going above and beyond.

Suzy embodies the qualities of Empathy, Compassion, Kindness, Caring, Character, and Integrity—which we feel every RN should have.  These are qualities that can be learned, but for her they are innate.  Since she naturally has these nursing qualities, she stands out among other RNs.  Many nurses will spend their entire career seeking these traits, but sadly most will fail, never grasping that these traits are at the core of nursing.

As an RN myself, it truly warms my heart to know SAVAHCS nurses such as Suzy are providing the nursing care that Florence Nightingale envisioned, more than a century ago, to the men and women who sacrificed for our country.