I want to express my sincere thanks and appreciation for the care delivered to my father, who was hospitalized in the ICU at Clara Maass. He suffered a large arterial thrombosis of his aorta and passed away at the age of 88, despite the heroic care of the vascular surgeons, pulmonologists, intensivists, and nephrologists. I want to thank all the staff in the ICU who were there during his stay and provided care for him. I especially want to point out the excellent care provided by Nurse Olivia Fernandez-Brown. She was at my father's bedside almost every day. I observed her clinical skills first hand as she managed his critical medications, bathed him, comforted him, monitored him and provided a calming voice in the midst of a busy ICU. She treated him like a father rather than a patient. She remained at his bedside after her shift was done when he was in a critical state. She was always available to answer our questions and speak with my mother who was at his side.
As a physician and educator, I have seen many nurses and clinicians over my almost 40 years in medicine. I have met some incredibly dedicated professionals over the years, but I have never seen the level of compassion, competence and caring that I saw from Nurse Olivia during my father's recent hospitalization. We, as a family of doctors, pharmacists and nurses know what good care looks like with our patients, and we all agreed that the care provided by Nurse Olivia was above and beyond anything we have ever seen. With this letter, consider this my endorsement for a wonderful nurse who displays the care and compassion that Clara Maass herself would be proud to acknowledge. She truly represents the best of nursing and the healing arts. I am sure God will bless her and all the staff for the work they do in the ICU. Our family was sad to lose our patriarch but happy that he was cared for in the most loving way by Nurse Olivia Fernandez-Brown.