I am an employee of All Children’s Hospital, and the mother of a child with a very complex medical history, so All Children’s is both work AND a second home to me. Yesterday, my son (who has juvenile rheumatoid arthritis as a secondary condition) was in more pain than he has likely ever been in his short and painful life. Following hours of non-stop screaming, we finally brought him to the Emergency Room, knowing he would receive proper pain control and likely be admitted (my youngest son had been admitted only two days before, talk about a week!).

Yolanda was our nurse, and she was fabulous. She put my son and me at ease. When it came time to start his IV, she made sure to completely numb the area and was able to hit it in one try (I normally request an IV team member because he’s not an easy stick). By the time he was done, he was calm until he realized she left the catheter in. When explaining it to him didn’t help, she pulled out another, attached it to a saline syringe and showed him that it was soft and wouldn’t hurt him. She even let him squirt her with the saline, which made him very happy. She continued to monitor him diligently, answering his questions and making sure I knew what was going on behind the scenes. Once the decision was made to admit him, she didn’t just brush us off as “another department’s problem” but continued to check in and keep us updated on events and where we were at in finding a room. She made sure to say good bye before her shift was over, even to wave good bye to him, who was peacefully sleeping for the first time in 24 hours.

I’ve spent many hours in the All Children’s Emergency Room and many nights in the new and old hospital but Yolanda was by far the best nurse that my son has had. She was capable, calm, friendly, personable and a great example of excellent nursing at All Children’s.