I met Jenn after an agonizing wait following a surgery that did not go as planned. Jenn calmly explained to me that my husband was on life support in a medically-induced coma. She made it sound so normal and routine that I actually felt comfortable with the frightening situation. At that time, she also gave me sound advice about how to manage communications with family and friends about his condition. Over the course of a lengthy hospital stay, Jenn demonstrated the highest level of professionalism and reassured us during even the most difficult moments that everything was under control, and that they successfully dealt with such situations all the time.
Jenn uses tough love to push her patients beyond their comfort zone while stretching them with their limits. She enabled my husband to regain his strength and achieve milestones that amazed other members of his medical team. Jenn is a creative thinker and collaborates well with the medical team to find the best solution to meet her patient's needs. One day, plans for a CT guided procedure were derailed because the CT was not working. I was informed that they would have to transport my husband to a different hospital for the procedure, and possibly keep him there. The thought of totally changing his wonderful care team and disrupting his continuity of care was distressing, to say the least. Jenn sprang into action and devised a plan to use the on-site ultrasound instead. Everyone agreed that was a good alternative, and it was successfully implemented!
I always knew that my husband was in good hands whenever Jenn was his direct or charge nurse. After five weeks of spending every day by his side, I even felt comfortable enough to leave him in her care as I traveled out of town on a weekend trip planned several months earlier to assist our daughter with some final wedding plans. While I was away, Jenn kept me well-informed about his condition and care plans. She even devised a plan for him to use a code word to let her know discretely when he was fatigued so she could be the bad guy and tell his visitors it was time to leave. I was so delighted I could be with my daughter when she tried on her wedding dress for the first time! I can't thank Jenn enough for giving me the opportunity to share this special moment in our daughter's life. More importantly, I credit her and her collaboration with the whole ICU team with my husband's recovery and ultimate discharge.