Anthony exhibits the embodiment of the modern-day nurse: knowledge, kindness, and compassion. To say he was a tremendous help the other night with a severely ill ICU patient is an understatement. Just some background: Anthony is a nurse at our facility. He applied to this role after about a year of being a travel nurse here. On the above-mentioned night, he came in to help the night shift because he heard how short-staffed, we were and how the last few nights were terribly busy on our unit and that morale was a bit low. He helped one of the nurses care for an ECMO/CRRT patient all night long (12+ hours). That’s not an exaggeration; he left after dayshift arrived the next day. This is all after completing his regular day's work and going home to tend to some home duties and check on his spouse who recently had a procedure done, and returned to the hospital to help us.
 

Anthony's experience was so valuable as we tried everything to help the critically ill patient make it through the night. His presence was tremendously appreciated; without him, the nurse would have certainly drowned and to say the patient made it as long as he did thanks to his help is not a dramatization. Unfortunately, he was too critically ill and did end up coding after 5 am for about an hour. During this time Anthony played a key role in the coding process. His help and presence that night was very moving and helped increase staff morale on the unit. It is truly admirable how selfless he is. I do not know many nurses who would complete a whole day's worth of work go home and return a few hours later to work 12 more hours when unassigned and not asked to. We are all so glad he decided to stay with BayCare and especially in this role as he is very knowledgeable and kind. He truly lives and works by our BayCare values and practices his profession proudly.