Our newborn son was admitted after being brought into the ED due to decreased feeding, feeling hot to the touch, and overall fussiness. Kelli was our day nurse for 2 straight days. Before this nurse, we felt out of the loop and unsure about what was going on. It felt really unorganized even though it wasn’t, and multiple things were being done by the medical team in the background. Kelli reassured us of the procedures being done, and the next step, and more importantly, explained to us in detail why this was happening in an easy way to understand. She provided compassionate care by being empathetic to our situation with having a newborn with a virus. When he spiked a high fever or high heart rate, she was quick to react and even advocated for advanced care to the entire medical team when he developed a rash due to the antibiotics. As a result, our little baby was able to get seen quickly by the doctors to figure out the next steps. 

In addition, she spends time building a rapport with us by getting to know us and our son. My husband and I felt isolated because we had to leave our young toddler daughter at home, but Kelli reassured us that she was seeing improvements in our son's situation and we would be back to see our toddler soon. She made it seem like it was never a chore or obligation to meet with us or take care of our son but it was something she actually enjoyed. Because I was exclusively pumping, Kelli found out I was throwing out the excess breast milk that our son did not take and offered to print labels and store the breast milk so it wouldn’t go to waste. She took the time to show me a new swaddling technique and was talking or singing to my son the entire time.

Kelli also provided me with pads because I was still heavily bleeding from my c-section and helped me lift my son up and assisted me in getting out of the chair so I could take care of him easier. When she was training an extern, she was delicately explaining the situation so that she was able to learn and address the situation in the future. We are so thankful to Kelli for providing us with support and confidence about our newborn's recovery. Her actions and deeds exemplified the spirit of nursing by taking competent care and the skills she developed in her training and interweaving them with her 21st-century relationship skills to reassure us, create a safe space where we were encouraged to have independence, and relieve our son's suffering. Kelli’s dedication to her craft positively affected not just the patient's outcome but the parents' as well because she made sure we took care of ourselves too so that we can take better care of our son. Thank you for being You-you truly made our First experience at Norton Children’s one that was positive despite circumstances.