My husband was diagnosed with stage 4 esophageal cancer that metastasized to his bones. Everything went really fast. We both worked so I had a lot of paperwork to do to hold our jobs, sign up for disability, and sign up for payments through wa.gov. I had a very hard time mentally running G to doctors, filling out paperwork I brought in, and computer challenged. Vicki filled out the paperwork I brought in, and I was such a basket case a few times I messed up. Most all of it was a lot of paperwork but every time I brought more in she would just be patient, kind, compassionate, and sweet and fill it out. Many papers a few times over again as I did something wrong. She would fill it out and fax it or send it for me. This was such a big blessing for me I won’t forget her; it took a lot of stress off as I had so much paperwork along with the stress of a sick husband.

Vicki deserves 4 of these wards just for me. She’s gone above and beyond on all of these (the DAISY criteria). My reason for nominating Vicki is she is an extremely valuable asset to the Oncology department. She is very compassionate, thoughtful, and helpful to us. We started chemo and every time we got done, we ended up in the ER, with some scary situation. I would always call Vicki first and she would calm me down and reassure me, we should get it handles. She would listen and advise me on what to do. She would always call me back and listen to the problem patiently and also call back and follow up with me to see if the problem was resolved.

This time was sepsis for the second time. I called and gave his symptoms; she quickly relayed them to the doctor and called directly back telling me to get to ER immediately. She saved his life. She is my best friend I tell her. Vicki has held my hand (per se) through all of this going above and beyond everything time I contact her. When extra meds or different meds, because of insurance or pain Vicki would go and look into all possible answers to all problems. She would go to the nine to find which medications he could have that insurance would cover, that would be effective enough. She would always call and respond to all my calls and always be compassionate, patient, and helpful. She would calm me and always promise to find one. She would look up medicine under all the drug companies and find the best price, order it, and have it ready for me. She even brought it to me once! 

She helped with the Alequist and Carafate medicine, very expensive. She is a good example of why Swedish is so great. I want Vicki to get this award because many times I have called her very distraught and upset and left crazy frantic messages, worried about my husband. She always immediately got back to me. Even after hours, she would take the time to call me and calm me and have some kind of solution to my problem. She does the leg work for me a lot of times for my problems, always very caring and kind. She even got us an application for handicapped parking and filled it all out. I have had an overabundance of paperwork from work (his and mine) to keep our jobs (etc.). So all of this helped a lot, mentally especially. Especially because of all the stuff going on. She would find me in the hospital and bring it to me.