While in training, Shannen cared for my daughter and has cared for her since she was hired on full time.My daughter was in a car wreck. She made strides but then hydrocephalus hit her and took all her gains away. She had to have a shunt which then malfunctioned, and then there was one infection after another. We have been here at Roanoke Hospital for 9 months except for 3 weeks that we went home. We ended up back here because her incision didn't close completely and her shunt was exposed. She has had a couple of infections since being back. I've been bedside with my daughter the entire time she's been hospitalized. One time two weeks ago, my daughter tanked badly. Her EVD hadn't been draining properly all weekend and by Monday night she was getting in distress. Shannen was her nurse. By Tuesdsay morning, my daughter was unresponsive to any stimulation at all. Although it was the lowest point I had seen my child, Shannen remained cool, calm, and collected. She never raised her voice. Her breathing never changed; her body movements never changed. She was very methodical and called the neuro team in. I was so impressed with her! No one would have ever known she was brand new at nursing.
Last night, Shannen was my daughter's nurse again, and again my daughter had some complications that were very scary and hard to watch. Her breathing and heart rate were through the roof. She was obviously in distress.Again, Shannen remained calm and continued to speak in her soothing voice. She called the on-call doctor and followed his instructions to a tee. She was very attentive and again, very calm. Her presence helped to keep me in a calmer state.In my opinion, Shannen is a natural at this career choice! You cannot teach the bedside manner she has in school. You cannot teach students to be cool under such pressure. Because my daughter is not much younger than these younger nurses and my daughter is also a CNA full-time while pursuing her nursing degree, the nurses all have grown to love my daughter as family, which makes it harder for them to remain collected. Shannen, however, is a pro at it despite being a brand-new nurse. I truly appreciate her (as well as all of 9 mountain ICU nurses) so very much! She's amazing and very worthy of the DAISY Award!