Katie was the nurse taking care of my grandmother in ICU, as she had an unexpected fall that led to a large bleed and being intubated. My grandma was going to remain intubated until her son from Washington made it to the hospital. Once he made it to the hospital my grandmother got placed on comfort measures and extubated. As this was an unexpected event, the family never had the chance to say their goodbyes. With the limited visitor restrictions at end of life, Katie went above and beyond being an advocate and worked hard with her charge nurse and house supervisor to allow immediate family in ICU to be there with my grandma for the last few hours she had. This meant the world to us as our grandmother loved being with the family and knowing we were all there by her side as she left this earth, she would not have wanted it any other way. This gave us all closure as we were able to say our goodbyes and being there all holding her hand as she took her last breath.

Not only was Katie an advocate for us but she made this transition much easier by always checking up on us, making sure grandma was comfortable, explaining everything in detail, was very compassionate, just overall making the transition to the end of life more comforting. Not only did Katie take care of my grandmother but she took care of all the family as well making us all feel wanted and cared for as well. We thank you Katie for everything you did for our family.

I am a Nurse in the ER and seeing Katie with my grandmother made me feel more relaxed. She did an amazing job going above and beyond to not only take care of her patient but the family as well making us all feel like we were being cared for. Seeing Katie taking care of my grandma reminded me of what we are here for. Being a nurse myself and in the high-stress environment we are in sometimes we lose that feeling and today Katie brought it back to me and reminded me why we do what we do and that is being here for the patient and family in the time of need.