This past week Liz was my nurse for three of the four days of my stay. Liz is a natural nurse. She is sweet, patient, knowledgeable and very organized. Liz always took the time to update me on my tests and discuss what the tests meant. Most important, though, Liz has the rare quality of making her patients feel they are the most important people in the world.

The situation that supports Liz's nomination actually involved my roommate, a 96 year old woman. The woman was due to have a transfusion and was petrified to go through the process because her sister died during one. Liz spent so much time talking softly to her and explaining in detail the safety of the process and the careful analysis and matching of the blood. I heard the patient ask Liz to stay with her until the procedure, which she did, and Liz contacted the patient's daughter so she would have family support. Liz had a busy scheduled that day, but she displayed no sign of being rushed.