I just received a call from a sweet mom who was incredibly touched by her entire experience at Wolfson. Their family of seven children was traveling in the area and one of the kids experienced a medical emergency that landed them here at our hospital. Thankfully after a scary period, their child has made a remarkable recovery and they are now all safely back in Indiana. One of the siblings was so touched by the care and concern of all the staff that she and her friends want to pursue nursing as their career! They want to not only provide patient care, but they want to provide the humanity/love that goes with it. Their experience was just that impactful. They mentioned one nurse in particular, Amanda in the PICU, who was incredible in caring not just for the child but also for mom and for the siblings. Amanda went above and beyond in ensuring the needs of the family were met in addition to the pressing clinical needs of the patient. This family chooses to still come here for follow up visits for their child, even though they live in Indiana because they were that impacted by the care they received here. The family wants to give back in their own way by making gifts for our patients, which I'm coordinating. Their children mention often that they saw Jesus here in Jacksonville at Wolfson. I'm so touched that this family felt our mission of the healing ministry of Christ presented in a very real way through their experience. What an honor and privilege to work alongside such an awesome nurse and such an amazing team. Bravo to Amanda and the PICU team for touching the lives of this family forever.
The parents wrote:
In 2018, as we were traveling from Indiana on our spring break trip to Florida, our ten-year-old son was stricken with a seizure of unknown cause and was transported by ambulance to Wolfson's Children's Hospital. Our ambulance driver said, "We can go 20 minutes to a hospital or 21 minutes to one of the best pediatric hospitals around." Little did we know what we would encounter. After examination in the ER and an MRI our intubated son was placed in the pediatric ICU for further tests. That's where we met Amanda. Amanda was working overnights and watched over our son's care. He was drugged and restrained due to the intubation and to allow his brain function to be studied.
As parents, we were afraid he may never regain consciousness. The unknowns and the shock of all this were overwhelming. During the night our son needed attention. As she was attending to him, our black belt son fought through the drugs and restraints, maneuvered himself around, and kicked her so hard she nearly fell to the floor. Shocked and embarrassed, my wife began to apologize when Amanda smiled and said, "He looked right at me. He made eye contact."
Two AM in a PICU may be the most lonely and scary moments for a worried mother (especially so for someone 900 miles from home). Amanda would come and just make her presence known. Answer crazy questions the best she could and help me to remain calm for my child. She seemed confident and skilled at all times which was reassuring. She helped me when I physically started crashing from the stress and my blood sugar was out of control. But the thing that will stay with me for the rest of my life is her compassion and kindness. There are nursing schools all over the country that can teach someone the ins and outs of PICU nursing. What Amanda had was more than any nursing school could teach in a classroom. Amanda's care and concern continued until our discharge a few days later.
Our son did regain consciousness and has recovered completely. We have never discovered the cause of his seizure and unconsciousness. What we do know is that nurses like Amanda helped our family through the most difficult and scariest time of our family's life and we're always grateful to her and to Wolfson's Children's Hospital staff.
Note: This is Amanda's 2nd DAISY Award!