Janae Jones is the epitome of human understanding and compassion. She is the Patient Care Director for the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital and although the events that led to this nomination took place some time back, the impact of her compassion continues to this day and has left an indelible mark on our PICU patients and their families.

I believe that Janae is deserving of a DAISY award and would like to submit her name for consideration. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon that our PICU teams are faced with shifting their efforts from stabilization and life-sustaining support to supporting grieving parents and families due to patients having grim prognoses after trauma, chronic illness, or unexpected shifts in their acuity. This phenomenon is not unique to LLUCH and there have been many recent viral videos capturing the shock and trauma of such moments such as videos depicting families of organ donors hearing their child’s heartbeat for the first time after their loss. Watching one such video triggered a deep sense of empathy and compassion for a donor’s parents which led Janae to want to create something that would be a lasting and cherished memory for our patients’ parents.

The idea that maybe we can give parents a way to preserve the sound of their child’s heartbeat, to help them as they grieve, began to formulate in her mind. Janae worked quickly to bring her idea to fruition and began by quietly purchasing sound recorders that make 10-second recordings. Her intent was to have the patient’s heartbeat recorded on the device and then place the sound recorders in a stuffed teddy bear so that parents could hear their child’s heartbeat. The families that received these recordings were so incredibly thankful to be able to still hear their child’s heartbeat whenever they squeezed the bear. Janae shared her idea with her team and the team embraced her idea.

After a brief trial period, and upon her promotion to Patient Care Director for the pediatric ICUs at LLUCH, she collaborated with our LLUCH Foundation department to secure funding and donations to make this a sustainable practice in the PICU. Because of her vision and compassion, Janae spearheaded the creation of an irreplaceable gift that aids in bringing comfort and healing to grieving parents. Families that have received them have been incredibly grateful for the bears, and being a part of creating this cherished moment for our patients and their families has enriched our teams’ lives and helped strengthen resiliency during sad and stressful moments. Because of Janae’s continued advocacy for our patients and their loved ones, we have been blessed to have bears and recorders donated by the Big Hearts for Little Hearts Guild (one of our local donor guilds who are passionate about improving care and patient experience at LLUCH) such that we are able to continue to provide these bears to our grieving families.

When we know a patient is dying or being discharged on hospice, our caregivers in the PICU will record the child's heartbeat so the family has a lasting memory. The loss of a child is tragic and often unexpected, no one plans to come to the hospital with their child and leave without them. Giving families this memory of their child to take home with them is a gift we are thankful to be able to provide.