Andrea was involved with my husband's care when he was the very most critical that he was in his 21 week stay at CUMC-Bergan. My husband returned to surgery for lengthy reconstructive Whipple surgery and he began to hemorrhage early on the morning following surgery causing a return trip to surgery twice that day. After 2 very high-risk surgeries and many more units of blood to stabilize him and the use of a REBOA to be able to repair the leak in his aorta, he was transferred to the trauma ICU.
The next morning, the director for the trauma ICU came to visit my husband and me and offer any help that she could, given that our situation was looking very grave. I told her that I needed my husband to have her very best nurse. By this point, he was septic as well and had multiple system organ failure. She looked at the schedule and knew that Andrea was her go-to person to care for someone as sick as he and she happened to be on the next 3 days. This was so reassuring to me because I knew he was in very capable hands.
Andrea cared for my husband 1:1 those next 3 days and many shifts beyond that for weeks as we had many ups and downs but gradually made progress that was inspiring to the entire team. As a nurse myself, Andrea is, without a doubt, the best ICU nurse that I have had the privilege of meeting. She made sure that he had every aspect of preventative care that he possibly could have to prevent further complications if at all possible. She provided such compassion to him in her care, never wanting to cause any discomfort if it could be avoided. Even when he was sedated, she still explained everything she was doing for him so that he was aware before she did it. She knew every lab result and provided comprehensive updates when the physician teams rounded. It was so very impressive to see her in action!!!
I stayed in my husband's room for weeks while he was so critical and I knew I could trust Andrea to be there for anything he needed and this allowed me to leave for short times to go get a meal or run for supplies. Andrea is the type of nurse who should be training other nurses because of her skill level, her technique in managing invasive lines, her assessment skills and awareness of the patient's condition, and her compassion. She was such a saving grace to us and I know that God put her in the right place at the time when we needed her to help him pull through.
Andrea is a true DAISY Nurse. I intended to write this letter a very long time ago to nominate Andrea, but it has been quite an emotional year and it was hard to find the words to describe what the care meant for us. I believe that it is never too late to recognize someone for greatness. Our hospitals would have far better outcomes in we had more nurses like Andrea, She is a rock star!
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My cousin was in the hospital for over a month and Andrea took care of him several times. She demonstrated such competence and attentiveness to my loved one. There were several touch and go days that she made sure to ask me was I okay and did I need anything almost every time she left the room. One day I burst into tears when she asked and she gave me a gentle pat on the shoulder and just sat in the room with me. Her presence made a difference for me that day. I could sense her care for my loved one which made me trust her enough to take a break from the room when I needed to.
One moment that sticks out is when the doctors were about to do a procedure on my cousin and I was glued to the chair by fear and heartache and end even though I knew I should probably not watch, I could not move or speak. I feel like she sensed his and she said, "do you want to go to the waiting room and I will come to get you when they are done?" Her voice somehow released me to get up and avoid more of the difficult images that are burned in your brain after an experience like this. Andrea was training a couple of new nurses while my cousin was there and I felt grateful that CHI recognized they have someone who should be imparting to the next generation of nurses.