Our son was born premature and spent 77 days in the NICU at Meriter hospital. Throughout our stay, we were constantly amazed by one of our son's primary nurses, Tara Kempfer. She not only demonstrated her knowledge and skill in caring for our son, but it was evident that she truly and deeply cared for not only our son but my wife and I as well. She didn't just come into the room to do the daily tasks then return to the nurse's station; she stayed in the room as much as possible (many hours per shift) and talked to us and reassured us. This was especially helpful to my wife who spent every day in our son's room.
Tara had an answer for all our questions, even if it meant going out of her way to track one down. We cannot sing high enough praise for Tara. She is exactly what we wanted and needed in a nurse during such a tough time. She is not only the best NICU nurse we have ever encountered but hands down the best nurse of any kind we have ever met. We were honestly happy, excited and at ease when we learned that Tara was working on a given day. When she was off for a period of time, we truly missed her.
Tara even came into the hospital on her day off (with her young son) to organize a little send-off with staff and see our son "graduate" from the NICU. That underscored her commitment. Though there are many examples of things Tara did that went above and beyond what we expected, one of the most striking examples is how she made a point of being in the room with us when the doctor came in to give us some very difficult news. She wanted to make sure she asked questions that we would forget (we had been discussing what the results of an MRI might be with her beforehand) and she wanted to comfort us if needed. She stayed and talked with us for a while as we processed the news. She even opened up to us about her personal experiences with her own children and their challenges which was clearly difficult for her.
We shed tears together and it helped us to know that her empathy is also combined with personal experience. Though there were many things that happened in the NICU that we do not want to remember, we will never forget Tara. Tara showed unbelievable compassion in every interaction with us and our son, it is no surprise that she is often charged with training/orienting new nurses in the unit. She really is an example for others to follow on what a NICU nurse should be.