Marly went above and beyond by taking the time to carefully explain every detail to the patient’s wife and mother. As her charge nurse, I watched her spend several hours answering questions from the family. The wife began to worry about if she had done “the right thing” by waiting to bring the patient to the hospital. As the wife began to cry, Marly hugged her and reassured her that she did “the right thing” by bringing him here. The wife immediately began to feel better. As she began unloading her worries on Marly, she explained that she has cancer and the patient’s father had recently passed away. The family had been having a difficult time recently and was uncomfortable being in the hospital with a loved one again so soon. I watched as Marly eased the family’s fears and overheard Marly say that she would be praying for them. She asked several times if there was anything else she could do to make the situation better. As time passed, the wife became more comfortable being here because of how compassionate Marly was to her.

Later in the night the patient was moved to the ICU. Marly personally escorted the patient to the ICU and explained the ICU visiting hours and policies to the family. She showed them where the waiting room was and explained that soon an ICU nurse would come update the family. A few hours later, a code blue was called to the ICU. Marly went to see if she could be of any help. Upon arrival to the ICU she was informed that the patient was “coding.” She updated the doctor as to what had happened in the ER.

After the patient was stabilized, she went out to the ICU waiting room to update the family. The family immediately began crying and hugging her, saying they felt so much better knowing that she came to check on their loved one. Once everything settled down, Marly asked if either of the family had anything to eat in the past few hours. After finding out that no one had, Marly came back to the ER, loaded up snack packs & sodas, and personally walked them up stairs to the family. The look of gratitude and relief on the family’s faces was undeniable. They called her their Angel.

As Marly’s charge nurse, I was so proud of her. She handled the high stress situation with such ease. Her compassion for the family was moving. Later, in the night, I heard Marly say “I feel like they are a part of my family now!” Marly is one excellent nurse.