My father was sent to room 346 for the next 8 days. It was here that we met our nurse, Kristin. I am not sure that I have enough words to explain what she did for us and meant to us from the moment she walked in the first shift on Monday morning. We felt completely loved and cared for. Her bedside manner alone is what patients and their families long for when they or their loved ones are hospitalized.

Let me make a side note to tell you that my dad is the primary caregiver for my mom who is in the last stages of Alzheimer's. So, I had to go back and forth between the hospital and his house taking care of both of them. When I explained to Kristin that I would not be there a lot of the day and that my dad would never ask for anything or let her know when he needs something, she immediately put my mind at ease and let me know that she would keep an extra close eye on him. Not only does she have an amazing bedside manner, but she educated herself continuously about my father's condition and communicated to us anything we needed to know. If she didn't know the answer to our question, she would go back and look at the doctor's notes. We were fortunate enough to have her as a nurse for 4 days during his hospital stay and I never had to wonder what was going on with his plan of care while she was on duty. If she saw something concerning, she would contact the doctor and let us know that she was waiting for a response. I cannot tell you how much this helped us.

She was off for 2 days and then when she returned, I had some questions about the estimated discharge date, and she had already looked over his chart in the notes before coming to his room. So, she was all caught up and able to answer our questions in the best way possible. My dad and I were both so happy when Kristen was back and I felt complete peace that I could take care of my mom, knowing that she would be there to take care of him. Her bedside manner included incredible reliability. When she said I will be back in 45 minutes that is what happened. There was no wondering when you would see the nurse again. We have experienced several hospitalizations at various places with both my parents and I have never seen the consistency and checking on patients the way that she does. No task seemed to be beneath her. And she continued to tell him that he needed to let her know when he needed something. I realize this is lengthy and I should probably type more about how wonderful she was to listen to us during my father's stay at Stringfellow. It is very important to me that you know what a treasure you have in her. If all nurses and medical personnel had her heart and work ethic, the hospital would never get complaints, or at least there would be much less complaining. Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope that Kristin feels as much value from your hospital as we feel for her.