Tessa has been my nurse for multiple inpatient stays at Blodgett. She is compassionate, friendly, efficient, and highly skilled. During a previous stay, she changed dressings from a painful post-surgical hematoma. She was always gentle, and we talked, so I didn’t notice the pain as much. She took extreme care with precautions during the height of COVID, and when working with my TPN central line.

This most recent stay (March 2023) is why I’m nominating her. During this stay, I had difficulties communicating with a certain provider. This was emotionally devastating to me, and I felt trapped, lost in the system, with an angry provider who did not handle situations well with me. I feared the outpatient care this provider would give me and it made me want to give up in the struggle to get stronger. Tessa sat and listened to both my husband and me about the problems. She directed me to Care Concern and to Patient Relations. She assured me that contacting them would not adversely affect my care. She was extremely empathetic and calming to me. I felt safe sharing with her. My husband thanked her and told me he was so grateful to be under her care that day, it helped us both. Tessa’s validation of my concerns made a difference for me. I felt cared about and not so overwhelmed. She wrote a report in my record, documenting what happened with this provider. Tessa spent a lot of time in her busy day talking with us, writing her account, and staying during meeting with the Care Manager and Hospital Supervisor. Tessa went above and beyond. She truly cares for her patients.