My wife was rushed into emergency surgery from the Inspira Elmer Emergency room. This was necessary to treat her ruptured colon that was not detected for four days, which also meant that my wife would need treatment for a serious septic infection that had been growing more serious for those four days. Many extraordinary doctors, nurses, and hospital staff deserve to be commended for the skillful care they gave my wife. Among dozens of the wonderful people involved, there is one who deserves the greatest recognition, credit, and thanks for my wife’s recovery. For her knowledge and training, her skill and experience, and her innate qualities of empathy and compassion, ICU nurse MaryAnn Harris has the eternal gratitude of my wife, myself, and our family. Nurse Harris is a shining example to her peers and is deserving of the highest commendation for excellence in medical care.

Six hours after she was taken into surgery, I was taken to the intensive care unit at Elmer hospital to see my wife. There was nothing any doctor or nurse had said that prepared me for what I saw. My wife was connected to tubes and wires to more machines and devices than I could count or comprehend their purpose. My wife was unconscious, intubated, and fighting against a raging septic infection. I was immediately overwhelmed by what I was seeing and overcome by the fear I would lose her. From the first day, MaryAnn Harris was a stand-out. The first day would become seven days in the ICU and a total of 28 days in the hospital, with me sitting at my wife’s bedside for ten hours a day and talking with ICU and acute care nurses by phone at night from home while caring for our son. I became familiar with the many machines and acquainted with many of the nurses who were all working to try to heal my wife. As good as they were, none would ever surpass Nurse Harris.

MaryAnn’s knowledge of her job, and the training she must have received over the years as a nurse were immediately clear to me. She was so much more than capable at applying the medical technology being used to heal my wife, she was adept. No setting of intravenous medication was left unchecked, or un-double/triple checked. No alert or alarm sound was responded to with delay or hesitation, no matter how routine I would later learn certain of the alarm tones actually were. While all of the hospital staff were certainly competent with equipment, medications, and techniques, Nurse Harris was a well-practiced master in the knowledge and art of medical care. This could have been all one could ask for from a nurse or doctor who was caring for a very sick loved one, but it wasn’t even the most remarkable quality about Nurse Harris.

What is truly laudable and extraordinary about MaryAnn Harris is her empathy and compassion. Nurse Harris has the ability to look at a patient and see beyond the vital statistics of the metabolic process to the total health-care picture that includes the patient’s family and loved ones. Nurse Harris took her time to treat and care for my wife but also took time to help and care for me as an extension of my wife’s health. I was in shock and close to being overwhelmed by what I saw of my wife’s condition that first day. Whether by patiently explaining or re-explaining a medicine or medical device or procedure, or by engaging me in seeming inane conversation about the latest news from the wizarding world of Harry Potter, Nurse Harris took time to care for me and, in doing so, improved the level of care we could give my wife.

I have many stories that are a testament to the high quality of care given to my wife by Nurse MaryAnn Harris. Her empathy and compassion may not be teachable and are probably not required as a standard of care written in the hospital manual, but they should be. In all the care my wife received that led to her healing and continued recovery, the most vital and indispensable part came from MaryAnn Harris. A thousand thanks could not begin to express my gratitude for Nurse Harris and would just be the beginning of the thanks she deserves. Nurse MaryAnn Harris deserves to be recognized and commended for the care she provided. She is an undimmable and brilliant light of excellence at Inspira, and an example to be emulated by healthcare professionals everywhere.