Holly demonstrated all of the attributes the RUMC Professional Nursing Staff looks for each time she cared for our dear friend. Her excellent technical skills led our friend to trust Holly implicitly, so much so that she asked for Holly every shift. There were times that Holly would stay longer to ensure our friend had the care she needed. The relationship between our friend and Holly went beyond that of coming in to take care of her for the day and leave, rather, it became a friendship where Holly would come in on her days off to visit our friend and even brought her a card before she transferred over to JRB. Even if Holly wasn't scheduled to work or if she was assigned to another unit, Holly would stop by to visit our friend to see how she was doing. When our friend came back to 9 Kellogg only a few hours after her transfer to JRB, our friend was reassured as she knew Holly demonstrated her technical expertise and leadership by reaching out to the ENT service to discuss getting our friend a different tracheostomy tube that would go beyond the tumor and help prevent the plugging of the trach with clots which was a source of frustration and anxiety for our friend.

Holly was our friend's advocate and she worked to call together the care team to have a care conference so our friend could have all of her questions answered. Holly worked to ensure our friend could stay on 9 Kellogg even if chemotherapy was going to be given so as to avoid unnecessary transfers that increased her anxiety. Holly got to know our friend as a person, not just a patient. She looked out for our friend's best interest every day. After hearing about how our friend had a cat at home, Holly didn't hesitate to work with unit leadership to arrange a cat visit. That meant more to our friend than she could convey. Even after our friend was transferred to the MICU, Holly still kept checking in on her to make sure she, along with her friends and colleagues, were okay. Holly promised her that she would be with her at the end and Holly kept her promise when she came up to the MICU after her family decided to withdraw care.

As a manager of clinical staff and also someone who works with educating clinicians, I know you cannot teach compassion; it is something you either have or you do not. I was blown away with how Holly demonstrated this on a daily basis not only to our friend but to those of us who were her friends and colleagues. All of the nursing care was tremendous on 9 Kellogg, but the relationship between Holly and our friend was extraordinary and deserving of recognition. Holly made our friend's last two weeks of life as wonderful as she could with her care and compassion.