My reason for nominating may not truly come across on paper. My daughter is a blind and autistic with multiple issues. She recently had to, once again, come to the ER. She was more alert this time and was very anxious. She functions on a 2-3 year old level and is actually 32. She’s just a doll. She has started having seizures and this has thrown us for a loop. She is nonverbal and cannot relay her feelings. On this day, Alyson was her nurse. The ED was so busy with bigger emergencies than ours. Alyson never made us feel like we were a bother. She did the opposite. But the biggest thing I remember is her patience. When she had to stick my daughter, who’s been stuck a multitude of times, she said, “I can handle sticking her; I just don’t want her to be afraid.” I teared up. She gets it. She understood my daughter, whom so many don’t. Thankful she was our nurse. She didn’t see my child as “the hard patient.”