Amy is a superb nurse and there are so many situations to even count that demonstrate her compassion, empathy, intuition, people skills, ability to see the whole picture and not react to the pieces, not to mention her excellent technical skills. But if I have to give one specific situation, it was with a young child with multiple relapsed AML.

Amy had taken care of this child many times and the family felt very connected to her. Families always feel that they can speak with her honestly and that they will not be judged or criticized for their feelings. In return, Amy always responds with direct and honest communication. One morning this patient began to deteriorate clinically she was most instrumental in this child's transfer to the PICU. The fellow was still learning and Amy is the person that in many ways, guided the fellow’s actions to enable transfer of this patient. Amy was very well aware that this family was not quite prepared to let their child go despite her many relapses. The child was transferred to the PICU. I would say that she was most instrumental in helping this family to make the choice to seek comfort care over heroic measures. Amy was able to assist them in their ability to distinguish between their hopes and wishes for that child. Their wish was cure; their hope was peace and no suffering....however, in their minds this meant “giving up.” With commitment and compassion, she helped this family make one of the most difficult and unselfish decisions of their lives and I believe she did it in such a way that these parents do not live every day filled with regret, but rather with painstaking, slow acceptance that their child is no longer beside them. This is a rare gift.

Finally, I am going to share one last story about her and I think this reflects her ability to deal with people from all walks of life. I was once a fellow here....when fellows took call around the clock, every other day while on in-patient service. By the middle of my first year, I was exhausted; sleep deprived beyond repair and frankly burned out. I hated to hear that pager ring especially by hour 38 of the next day. One day she says to me, “you need a pager intervention.” Amy changed the beeper ring to vibrate; she told me that I needed to learn to delegate these pages and to delegate tasks. Every day she helped me to learn to do this. By my very nature, I like to be in control of all situations. Amy was one of the most instrumental persons during my entire fellowship in helping develop skills that have served me best as an attending. She reached out to me and she had no obligation to do this. I will forever be grateful to her. And this taught me to do the same with the fellows that I supervise. So when the month of January comes when the fellows are stretched at both ends and ready to “toss the pager,” I laugh and say “we need a pager intervention.”