Working as a trauma nurse at BHMC we admit a lot a motor vehicle accidents, pedestrian vs cars, and motorcycles vs car. We take care of others and hope our family members drive safely because we see the damage that can be done. Monday night, as I was getting ready to go to bed, I got the call that I hoped I would never get. My mother called me in tears that my baby brother was in the emergency room at my hospital he was in a motorcycle accident, and he was going to be admitted to ICU. TT was the name assigned to him by the ER. A flood of thoughts entered my mind. Not even two weeks ago I had admitted a patient to our unit motorcycle vs car. She was so unstable I could not leave her room with the constant blood products and medication titration. After that shift, I went to my parents’ house to see my baby brother, hugged him, and uncontrollably started crying, reminding him to be careful of cars on the road. Even though my brother has been riding motorcycles on the road for 7 years, and first learned to ride when he was eight in a small Honda, I now worked where I witness the horror of motorcycle accidents.

Calling the unit, I found out C was the charge nurse that night. "TT, that's your brother? He'll be going to room X, Kipp will be his nurse." Just hearing that, a load was lifted off my chest. I knew it no longer mattered what was going to happen, he was in the best hands. While C did mention what injuries he had, and he was currently stable still in the ER it didn’t immediately register what she said. The adrenaline going through my body as I put on scrubs, grabbed a bag, and put some hospital essentials (blankets, the first snack I saw in the cupboard, water bottles, and a phone charger) while my husband got the car ready to pick up my mother on the way to the hospital. The one thing that kept repeating in my mind was that he'll be ok, even if he is not ok, he'll be ok, Kipp has him.

I have been a med-surge tele nurse for four years working primarily in teaching hospitals. I was first introduced to both Broward Health Medical Center, ICU and Trauma patients in January 2022. While orienting on days, Kipp was pointed out for his knowledge, experience, attention to detail, and cleanliness of his rooms and his patients. During orientation on nights, I noticed that Kipp usually was assigned high-acuity patients. Once on my own as an ICU nurse, feeling like a new grad all over again, Kipp was there as a great resource nurse. If I had any medical questions, he would answer them; there was no such thing as a silly question. And if I did have a silly question, he still helped me, giving me a thorough answer without giving me a hard time or judgment. He helped when it was one of my first times having to take a vented patient down to MRI.

As I mentioned earlier, Kipp has a reputation for how he keeps his rooms and patients organized, one of his signature pieces is a folded towel that he places on the patient's chest supporting the endotracheal tube. Despite how many times I folded the towel, mine never looked quite like his, mine seemed to be too long, too short, too tall, too bulky. I asked him if he would show me how he folded his towel; he gladly took the time to show me.

When my mother and I arrived at the unit, my brother was still in the ER. Kipp gave us an update as my mother, and I went to see my brother. When it was time to bring my brother to Atrium ICU, our amazing charge nurse C was there at bedside to assist Kipp with getting my brother situated in the room while my mother and I waited in the family waiting room. Kipp came to get us and introduced himself and gave us an update as we walked to my brother's room. I have seen him do this to many families whose loved one is in the ICU, I hope it was as comforting to them as it was to me. I recommend Kipp Rifanburg for the DAISY Award as both a family member of a patient and as a coworker who is grateful to work with someone so dedicated to knowledge in his field, his quality patient care, his helpfulness to fellow coworkers, and care to families.