Rui was the first nurse we had when we were transferred to Children’s Minneapolis after my two-year-old son was diagnosed with T1D. Rui made us feel comfortable and cared for from the moment we arrived. He met us in the hallway and walked us to our room. He calmly sat with me as I held my son, and he spoke to my two-year-old with a calm and compassionate voice. He let my son know he was only talking with me and treated him with so much respect and kindness, which is sometimes rare to see when a child is so little and can’t understand everything that is happening or communicate what they are thinking and feeling.

Rui realized my son was hesitant to be touched by medical staff, so he asked me to press on my son's fingers so that he could observe what he needed to. He always told my son what he was doing and was extremely intentional about building trust with him. Rui also made it clear that he was there to take care of all of us (parents included). He took time to validate how hard this diagnosis can feel AND how capable we were to care for our child. He was extremely knowledgeable about T1D and helped us learn what we needed to at a pace that felt comfortable for us.

I felt so confident that my son had the best care possible when Rui was our nurse. To top it off, Rui also took the time to come back and check on us a few days later even though my son was no longer his patient. He even brought me a Gatorade I had asked for days earlier that they did not have during his shift but had since been restocked. Rui is the kind of nurse that always goes above and beyond to help his patients. He’s the kind of nurse that treats all his patients, no matter their age, with compassion and respect. He is the kind of nurse that helped two parents of a newly diagnosed T1D child feel capable and seen. We will forever be grateful to Rui for the way he cared for our family during our time at Children’s Minneapolis.