First of all, I have to say that it is difficult to pick one nurse from the NICU for the DAISY award. Our son J spent the first 15 days of his life in the NICU, he needed surgery immediately after birth, which was completely unexpected, and the most stressful experience my husband and I had ever been through. The staff in the NICU were nothing short of amazing, and after a couple of days in there we grabbed a DAISY Award brochure because we were so impressed with the care J and our family received in the NICU, and knew we wanted to participate in this program in some small way.
Danielle Sneider stands out to us in particular because she gave tremendous physical and emotional care for not only our son J, but for my husband and I. Danielle was J's nurse several times during those long 15 days in the NICU, and it felt like she was caring for J as if he were her own son. Danielle also constantly went above and beyond to answer our questions, discuss our concerns, and provide us with so much critical emotional support during this incredibly difficult and uncertain time for our family. Danielle always seemed to advocate for J and for us and helped us track down answers from the many different doctors and departments who were involved in his care, which was difficult for us to navigate at times as we received some mixed messages and updates along the way.
Whenever we encountered Danielle in the NICU, whether she was assigned to J's care that day or not, she always greeted us with a smile and showed concern for how J and we were doing and seemed genuinely invested in J's care and his improvement and the goal of him getting home.
Not only did Danielle continuously give our family this amazing care in the NICU, but after J's 15 days in the NICU, he was moved to the pediatric floor for an additional 6 days before he was eventually discharged. Danielle repeatedly visited our family on the pediatric floor checking in to see how J was doing and how we were doing, sometimes visiting us multiple times a day. Danielle truly went out of her way to continue her care of our family during this time and was such a reassuring and friendly face that helped us through this very hard time. I honestly don't know what I or my husband would have done without Danielle's presence and constant care and support through those long 3 weeks. Danielle is a very special person and seems to be in the perfect career as she is clearly so caring, compassionate, intelligent, and invested in patient progress and growth, and we are so grateful for her, she is an asset to MMC!