Rachel was a wonderful ICU nurse during our time at Sanford. Unfortunately, G did not make it out of the hospital. He was transferred to Comfort Care and passed away three days later. While in the ICU, Rachel took such good care of him. There were 3 or 4 instances in which she made a difference.

I am G’s daughter and live in South Carolina. I received the call to get back here ASAP, so I got the first flight I could. Unfortunately, the plane was delayed multiple times and I was so afraid I wasn’t going to make it back to say goodbye in time. I was supposed to arrive at 2:00 PM, but I didn’t land until after 8:30 PM, after visiting hours. Rachel had been watching the events unfold between the phone calls and tears. She went to her supervisor and got me special clearance to come in after visiting hours so I could see my Dad and say goodbye to him. I thought that took such thoughtfulness and courage to know how heartbroken I was going to be when I finally arrived and wouldn’t be able to see him. So that alone showed such compassion.

She also assisted us with the visitation policy. Two visitors were allowed for ICU patients. G’s brother and G’s wife (my mom) were already there. When we would meet with the Doctors one had to go to the lobby and then other two that did see the Doctor had to relay information, and not all the questions got answered. Rachel saw this and set it up with her Charge Nurse for all three of us to meet with the specialist and teams in a meeting room on the ICU floor so we could all hear the info and ask questions without one being in the dark. That was so kind-hearted to do. She worked with her team of Doctors and nurses to meet our family's needs, so we could all be in the room to understand G’s condition.

After a tough meeting with the doctors and palliative care team, we came to a very hard decision to move G to Comfort Care, as every option we had was tried and failed. G was not getting better and had no prognosis. Rachel was so caring and made such a difference as she gave us her heartfelt condolences, as she proceeded to unhook G from all the machines and IVs. At this time, she came and asked us if we would like fingerprints of G made to keep as a keepsake of him. She asked his favorite color and came back with molds to make the prints. She assisted us in making these and then went and had them fired in the oven for us. She then placed them in a keepsake bag before we moved up to the hospice floor. She also had the Chaplain come and talk to us in this very tragic and difficult time. Both of these suggestions were exactly what we needed.

She provided us with the comfort of having a treasure of G while he was still alive and could get the prints. And talking with the Chaplain was wonderful. He brought treasures for us and said all the right things at a time like this. We were so happy with the care that was given to G by Rachel; even though we did not get the outcome we wanted, we will never forget her kindness, compassion, and empathy.