Mariz Gabra
October 2022
Mariz
Gabra
,
RN
5C
SickKids Hospital
Toronto
,
Ontario
Canada
Mariz gave back to P a sense of control over what was happening to her and we knew that Mariz truly cared not only about P's physical well-being but also her mental well-being.
Mariz went above and beyond for us while we were there for my daughter's neurosurgery. Mariz understood my daughter's anxiety about certain things and was able to come up with creative solutions to accommodate and help P be successful in accomplishing those tasks. When P refused to have a bath to wash her hair, Mariz set up a hair washing station in the bed and patiently helped me wash and comb through a very tangled mess of long hair. She even braided P's hair after and taught me how to do a fishtail braid (a braid P had always wanted to have but I didn't know how to do).
There was a time when P's IV was causing some issues and it was thought that it would need to be removed and redone. P was extremely upset about this and was lashing out at me verbally and physically. Mariz recognized how upsetting this was for P and instead of insisting on it being done, she stepped away and gave P space and time to calm down and she consulted with the other nurses to determine if there was another alternative. Once P had calmed down, she came back and told us the good news: this IV needed to be removed but if P promised to work really hard on drinking lots of fluids then we might not need to put in a new IV. P is a goal-driven person and Mariz knew this from having seen the whiteboard goals in our room that P had done for her walks. Mariz wisely used this to help P identify a new goal: drinking lots of water so she wouldn't need to get another IV and it worked! P wasn't great with drinking before this but Mariz gave her the motivation she needed and we were able to avoid another IV and P began healing more quickly.
Mariz gave back to P a sense of control over what was happening to her and we knew that Mariz truly cared not only about P's physical well-being but also her mental well-being. There are no words to express our gratitude to Mariz for her care. We are so grateful to all of the nurses and doctors at SickKids Hospital but we are particularly grateful to Mariz for her compassion and creative problem-solving. She is a fairly new nurse to SickKids and I can't think of a better way to express our gratitude for what she brings to SickKids Hospital.
There was a time when P's IV was causing some issues and it was thought that it would need to be removed and redone. P was extremely upset about this and was lashing out at me verbally and physically. Mariz recognized how upsetting this was for P and instead of insisting on it being done, she stepped away and gave P space and time to calm down and she consulted with the other nurses to determine if there was another alternative. Once P had calmed down, she came back and told us the good news: this IV needed to be removed but if P promised to work really hard on drinking lots of fluids then we might not need to put in a new IV. P is a goal-driven person and Mariz knew this from having seen the whiteboard goals in our room that P had done for her walks. Mariz wisely used this to help P identify a new goal: drinking lots of water so she wouldn't need to get another IV and it worked! P wasn't great with drinking before this but Mariz gave her the motivation she needed and we were able to avoid another IV and P began healing more quickly.
Mariz gave back to P a sense of control over what was happening to her and we knew that Mariz truly cared not only about P's physical well-being but also her mental well-being. There are no words to express our gratitude to Mariz for her care. We are so grateful to all of the nurses and doctors at SickKids Hospital but we are particularly grateful to Mariz for her compassion and creative problem-solving. She is a fairly new nurse to SickKids and I can't think of a better way to express our gratitude for what she brings to SickKids Hospital.