I am nominating Marta from Labor and Delivery as a deserving recipient of The DAISY Award.

I feel that Marta demonstrated professionalism in the work environment, exemplifies the mission, values and philosophy of Advocate, consistently focuses on patient and family care, uses critical thinking skills in the delivery of extraordinary patient care, demonstrates excellent interpersonal skills and models empathy while demonstrating a caring attitude in all situations. As I understand the mission and values of nursing at Advocate, there is a philosophy to use a holistic approach and embody compassion and excellence while focusing on the mind, body and spirit. I do believe that Nurse Marta embodies all of that fully.

I was a patient at Advocate Illinois Masonic from 7/5/11 to 7/8/11. I was pregnant and found out at my 20 week ultrasound that my son had significant and multiple abnormalities that didn’t make the pregnancy viable with a compatible life. Because our son’s chance of survival was nil, we went in for an induction. Marta was my nurse during my labor and delivery. Following the delivery, I ended up in surgery. Marta was there through that. After surgery, I was put in a room off the Labor and Delivery floor due to my loss and she continued to come in to check on me and did so before she left at the end of her shift.

Losing our son was the most difficult thing that my husband and I have ever had to endure. Actually delivering a baby that was born with no signs of life was something that I could not have imagined ever having to do. Marta was there the entire time. She was encouraging, attentive, empathic, compassionate, caring and strong all while doing her job. I could not imagine having to be emotionally and professionally present to patients at all times, especially not in my case.

After our son was born, Marta immediately took him away, cleaned him up and wrapped him in a blanket. She then came back to my husband and me and asked us if we wanted to see and hold him. She encouraged us to consider seeing him because, as difficult as it was at that point, it may help us to heal. This was our one chance to hold him. We were very anxious about seeing him as we were afraid of what we might see due to the abnormalities that we knew he was going to have. To prepare us, Marta explained what he looked like to us. She knew his name and called him by name. She highlighted that he had beautiful hands and said that he looked as if he were sleeping. Marta then left us alone to be with our baby boy. We felt comforted in her words and were so glad that she explained what he looked like to us. And we will always remember his perfect little hands with long, slender fingers. And we will remember him peacefully. Our memories were helped to be peacefully formed by Marta. In addition to all of this, Marta did something else that meant an incredible amount to us. She called us mom and dad. She was the first person to say that and to acknowledge our loss. We are parents. We have a son. And he will always be our first baby.

I understand that Marta was doing her job, but she did so with such grace and compassion. I don’t know that we could express how grateful we are to have had her with us during this difficult time. She is an extraordinary nurse and is highly deserving of recognition and praise. Advocate Illinois Masonic is so incredibly lucky to have a nurse with such dedication.