Tracey remains in the hearts of many of our patients. I know this because I see her name mentioned often in our unit's kudos letters. I also know this, because I sit on the Patient Advisory Council with Tracey and the patient advisors LOVE her!. I've seen Tracey turn red with embarrassment at this meeting because our patient advisors won't stop complimenting her!

Tracey also helps to care for the employees on our unit. She is on the Peer Relations Council and is always helping plan team building events or community events such as our most recent "Girl Scout Cookies for The Troops Drive". She heads our unit's lactation meetings and helped to initiate our new "Baby Steps" program, which has taught our staff to provide support to our breastfeeding mothers.

A few months ago, I ran into Tracey and found her teary eyed. She explained that one of the new Mom’s from her breastfeeding group had just moved out of state and had emailed to tell her that her mother was dying. She was very depressed and Tracey was deeply worried about her. I learned that Tracey had contacted one of our hospital chaplains to find out how she should handle this patient's sorrow. Tracey told me that these ex-patients, these moms in her breastfeeding group, are like children to her, and she would do whatever she needed to support them. This struck me as a particularly awesome point of view.

Tracy is a true asset to the patients, babies, and staff with her big heart, expertise, and leadership. She is a model of our healing hospital environment. We are lucky to have such an amazing nurse here at Mercy.