Nicole Brooks
February 2021
Nicole
Brooks
,
BSN, RN
Digestive Health Infusion Center
University of Maryland Medical Center
Nicole has had a tremendously positive effect on my husband, me, and our entire family alleviating us of so much fear and stress.
My husband and I have received exemplary support from Nicole Brooks for over five years, and to us, she has been a Superstar! When my husband got sick back in 2015, he was unaware that he had been flaring for 6 full months, because he had never really been sick before. As a result of this and never having heard of Ulcerative Colitis (UC), we were slow to get medical attention.
Finally diagnosed, we were bewildered as to the flood of medical terms, treatments, and in a daze due to the severity of this UC. He was literally within days of losing his colon. Trying to balance this crisis with our young kids 4, 6, and 8 years old and an incapacitated husband was a nightmare for me and the worst crisis to hit our young family! Having been spared the loss of his colon (so far so good) we were swamped with logistical and coordination issues in his ongoing treatment.
Enter 'one stick Nicole' (my husband's nickname for her because she has never had to "stick" him with a needle more than once for an infusion in all these years). We were often confused with all the new medical terms and how the various departments interact for sample collection, getting portal responses, etc. At every infusion, Nicole would graciously counsel my husband and me on how treatments typically go, time frame variations for recovery, and basically, she became the main 'go-to' person' for day-to-day information and advice.
To this day, on the occasions when we can't get through to anyone by phone, slow or no timely message responses, Nicole is always available and gets us set up. Whenever we would have to come to Baltimore, Nicole always laid the groundwork on who we had to contact, she would very accurately coordinate the timing of infusion Rx delivery, would often call ahead for us to the other departments, give us contact names (she seems to know everyone everywhere) and we would be all set. To us, Ms. Brooks seems to be the nurse leader within the IBD Department.
Ms. Brooks has had a tremendously positive effect on my husband, me, and our entire family alleviating us of so much fear and stress. She has found ways to de-conflict our schedule requirements between our two different kids' school pickup and drop-off times, advising us if there were issues with traffic due to road closings, ball game events, and such. The IBD Department has been heroic in their treatment plan and having Nicole Brooks assigned as our treatment nurse has been an almost literal lifesaver! Nurses are clearly the front-line force of the Doctor's treatment plans. Our experience has proven that Nicole Brooks is truly 'a serving nurse' and a credit to nurses everywhere. We appreciate her care so much! She has been a huge stabilizing influence through this entire five-year period.
Finally diagnosed, we were bewildered as to the flood of medical terms, treatments, and in a daze due to the severity of this UC. He was literally within days of losing his colon. Trying to balance this crisis with our young kids 4, 6, and 8 years old and an incapacitated husband was a nightmare for me and the worst crisis to hit our young family! Having been spared the loss of his colon (so far so good) we were swamped with logistical and coordination issues in his ongoing treatment.
Enter 'one stick Nicole' (my husband's nickname for her because she has never had to "stick" him with a needle more than once for an infusion in all these years). We were often confused with all the new medical terms and how the various departments interact for sample collection, getting portal responses, etc. At every infusion, Nicole would graciously counsel my husband and me on how treatments typically go, time frame variations for recovery, and basically, she became the main 'go-to' person' for day-to-day information and advice.
To this day, on the occasions when we can't get through to anyone by phone, slow or no timely message responses, Nicole is always available and gets us set up. Whenever we would have to come to Baltimore, Nicole always laid the groundwork on who we had to contact, she would very accurately coordinate the timing of infusion Rx delivery, would often call ahead for us to the other departments, give us contact names (she seems to know everyone everywhere) and we would be all set. To us, Ms. Brooks seems to be the nurse leader within the IBD Department.
Ms. Brooks has had a tremendously positive effect on my husband, me, and our entire family alleviating us of so much fear and stress. She has found ways to de-conflict our schedule requirements between our two different kids' school pickup and drop-off times, advising us if there were issues with traffic due to road closings, ball game events, and such. The IBD Department has been heroic in their treatment plan and having Nicole Brooks assigned as our treatment nurse has been an almost literal lifesaver! Nurses are clearly the front-line force of the Doctor's treatment plans. Our experience has proven that Nicole Brooks is truly 'a serving nurse' and a credit to nurses everywhere. We appreciate her care so much! She has been a huge stabilizing influence through this entire five-year period.