After finding a patient in critical condition, I paged the STAT Team to assess this patient. Leah had already visited the patient another time to stabilize them. With a smile on her face, Leah not only consoled the patient but treated them like her own family. Though the patient's condition worsened over hours, at the end of a long weekend shift, Leah stayed by the bedside, stroking and holding the patient's hand and reminding them that their family loved them and she would not leave their side. She stayed at the bedside for three hours in full PPE and did as she promised, and did not leave the patient.
When the time came for the patient to cross over to the other side, Leah had the patient's family on a FaceTime call to say their goodbyes. It was only then that I found out from the other STAT Nurse that Leah had actually lost a close family friend in the exact same patient room. The compassion and strength that it took for her to not only stay in the room but go above and beyond in her nursing care was both admirable and brought a tear to our eyes. Leah is an EXEMPLARY nurse and deserves to be recognized as such. Such a special person to have on our team. COVID has been hard to navigate for us all, especially knowing that things are a little more secure than we are used to with having visitors. Leah was happy to lend herself completely to comfort the patient and make sure the process was peaceful.