My dad was a patient in the Surgical ICU department until he passed. That first week during Thanksgiving my brother and his wife were visiting my dad and talked about the extraordinary care that he was getting from the nurses and staff, and I was finally able to experience this firsthand when I arrived.

Enclosed please find DAISY Nomination forms for Sarah and Chelsea from that unit and for Remy from the Palliative care team. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about Dad, and I am still so comforted by the kindness and care that he received during those last two weeks and the kindness and care that we were treated with as well. Everyone was spectacular but these three really made such a huge difference in our experience. They were attentive to Dad and treated him with kindness and respect, and they were attentive to us and were continually asking if we needed anything, or if we had any questions. They were constantly explaining things in terms we could understand and were not at all condescending. They went about their jobs with knowledge and such a focus on respect and care that they put us at ease, and we knew that Dad was in great hands. They allowed us room to ask all the questions and experience all the emotions going through this difficult time, and they asked questions and provided information to help gently guide us to hard decisions and realities.

Our entire family is behind the nominations of these three exceptional women for the DAISY Award. But we would also like to do something for the nursing staff in general in the Surgical ICU as a memorial to Dad, something that would make their day-to-day jobs that much easier. Is there something that they could really use in the breakroom, or anything that would make their work there a little easier? Thank you so much.