Sheela was a breath of fresh air when she came to assist my assigned nurse. She was genuinely compassionate not robotic, knowledgeable very caring has common sense, and takes initiative. She came in to assist with locating my vein so another IV can be set up when she noticed I was cold & shaking.

She stopped what she was called in to do & ensured I was warm enough & comfortable before proceeding with it. She got me a warm blanket (even though I told her I already asked my assigned nurse for one). She brought the warm blanket and wrapped it around my body (as opposed to throwing the hot blanket on top of the other cold blankets already on me). She made sure that every little space that could allow cold air to get to me was covered. For instance, my neck and my ears and wrapped every elbow that was still poking out. That was going the extra mile for me. She also made sure that I was feeling the warmth from the blanket & took her time to wrap around my head in the warmth.

Then she assessed and just stood by me adjusting the bed & headrest section waiting for me to get warm & comfortable first before proceeding. It is better watched than verbally described. I’m not a big talker so I feel like I’m not doing enough justice to her caring actions. As I’m typing this, I have tears running down my cheek because I could see that she genuinely cared as a human being & not following some instructions that were taught in a training for nurses. Sometimes it’s just the little things that make a whole difference. Also, she wasn’t bombarding me with textbook questions. There are just some things that are inherent & being caring is one of them. Most patients (at least me) just need a little compassion. Battling with a sickle cell crisis on Thanksgiving, wasn’t on my bucket list. Thank you, Sheela, because it might have felt natural to you but care and some compassion was needed at that time and very well appreciated in the storm. You chose to leave your family on Thanksgiving to be with patients I want you to know that your efforts on that day made a big difference in my life more than I have the words to describe. You added to my list of people to be thankful for. Thank you.

Note: This is Sheela's 2nd DAISY Award!