We often say that no one’s best day is spent in the hospital, but for some of our patients every day is spent here. We encourage maintaining home routines, but for many patients, a nurse has always been part of bedtime. Instead of an evening bath and bedtime stories, it’s vent checks, medications, and custom pajamas with a hole for their G-tube. Walking down the halls of a Children’s Hospital is quite different from a typical hospital experience. Moana and Frozen ballads float from doors and colorful signs adorn doors to celebrate birthdays spent in a 10x10 brightly lit room. Patients up in their bouncy seats or wheelchairs beckon for smiles and waves from passers-by.

On this day I walked past the room of a patient who has spent most of her first years with us and found an epic dance party in progress. Joyful music filled the room as the patient danced from her wheelchair. She pumped and waved her arms, pushed her feet against her nurse's thighs to make her whole chair rock, and grinned from ear to ear. Her nurse, Hope, danced along with her, encouraging her, bringing joy, and helping her strengthen her arms, legs, and torso through dance.

For complex patients, their development is often affected by the restrictions of medical equipment and hospital walls, especially during a pandemic when it’s not safe for patients to leave their rooms for walks and fresh air. Hope helped bring joy and laughter to this patient but also helped her develop social skills, strength, and coordination. Hope’s clinical skills ensure patients have the life-sustaining care they need, managing a ventilator, IV medications, feeds, and cares while also bringing joy wherever she can.

Hope brings such joy and strength to her work each and every day. It is evident in the way she interacts with both patients and peers. She is able to make the not-so-great parts more fun and brings such joy to her patients whenever possible. She ensures that days that could be some of the worst, turn out to be pretty great. Peers seek her out to ask for help and patients light up when they see her. Our patients (and our unit) are beyond lucky to have her!

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I have been a nurse on Medical for over 17 years and have had the honor of working with the best of the best, Hope is no exception. I was sitting at the cluster charting on one of my patients when out of nowhere I hear Hope reading to her young patient with such happiness and animation, that I could not help but smile. She was even doing different character voices, for added effect. On our unit, we take care of very complex, long-term patients, with over half of them with tracheostomies on ventilators. These kids spend months and months in the hospital and it is so hard for them to have some normalcy and just be a kid. For her to take time out of her shift, to simply read a book to her patient and see the smiles and pure joy that result, is priceless.

Every day Hope comes to work she brings an energy and life force that are contagious. She develops relationships with all of her patients and families, making each and every one of them feel valued and cared for. Even when she has a different assignment, she will take the time to go check on other patients and families that she has worked with, just so they know she was thinking of them.

These past 19 months have been hard on everyone in the medical field and especially on nurses. To see someone who continues to give of herself 110%, on every shift, is inspiring. It is no wonder that her name is Hope because that is what she gives to me and all those she cares for and works with.