This Christmas we lost a young woman to postpartum cardiomyopathy. Her family and our unit was devastated by the loss of her and the burden of her newborn having to live her whole life without her mother. Bailea decided to rally the unit together to help our lost patient's newborn daughter and family get the supplies they needed to take care of her. Bailea made it clear that our obligation to the patient could have ended when she passed, but seeing and believing that we are not just patient-based but family-based, said we can do more for them. Bailea raised thousands of dollars for the family. She was able to get a list of supplies that the family requested and purchase every single one of them. She still had thousands of dollars left over after getting their requested supplies and donated the rest to the family to help them adjust to the finical burden of losing their family member and gaining a new one.

Bailea could have stopped there. But she did not. She took time on her day off to send us multiple updates on the family and send us all pictures from the family. Not once did Bailea ask for or take credit for doing this because she is too selfless to do so. Bailea does so much for our unit and is never recognized for it. It is time we as a unit, Emory as a hospital, and nursing as a profession recognize Bailea. Bailea will be upset when she receives this award. Not for being honored, but because she cannot share it. She will immediately point out that she did not do this alone, and that everyone else deserves to be recognized before her, but everyone else will point out, that yes she had help, but it was all her in the end.

She always goes above and beyond for us as nurses and most importantly our patients. With this one act, one of many she has done while working, she elevate hope for a family and our staff, she helped advance the healing of a devastating loss for our ICU and that family, and by helping that family get what they need, she improved the health of a newborn child she had never met. Bailea is an amazing human and truly inspires hope for a world in which we often feel hopeless. I hope the eternal light in Bailea continues to shine in the darkness of working in an ICU.