Our son, O, was born at the hospital in Riverton. My wife & O were doing so well that they were set to be discharged the next day. A couple of hours before being discharged, the on-call pediatrician noticed a murmur during his last vital check. A few tests & a gut-wrenching talk later, O & I were off on a LifeFlight helicopter heading to Primary’s. Once we arrived, we rushed into the CICU where the fellow there began explaining a whole lot of things to me regarding O’s aortic coarctation that didn’t even have a chance to land except that he would require open-heart surgery. After he had left, Brooke had introduced herself as O’s nurse. I’m sure she could tell I was still in shock & very anxious that my wife wasn’t there, especially while they were going over everything with me. She explained she knew I was just hit with a firehose of information, so she was going to walk me through everything the fellow had said, answer any questions I had & repeat anything/everything as much as I needed her to. After having been talked to by so many different people, Brooke’s confidence, understanding & calming demeanor was exactly what I needed at this moment. She continued to impress us in the days prior to O’s surgery with how attentive & communicative she was. There were times that she stayed well after her shift change to ensure that we didn’t need anything, that we knew what nurse was taking over for her, & that they were well up-to-date on everything regarding O’s current status. Even after we had moved to the post-op section & even into the CCU, Brooke would often come & say hello & check-in on us after her shift. Everyone at Primary’s who had looked over our little “Kevin Bacon” baby (inside joke with the nurses because of his hair) was incredible, but I don’t think there’s anyone more deserving of the DAISY award than Brooke & we can’t thank her enough!

Our 20-month-old son, R, is here for his 4th open heart surgery! This is clearly not our first time but no matter how many times you’re in this situation, it’s always scary & hard! With that said, overall, all of our nurses have always been amazing, but Brooke handled R’s extremely hard post-surgery night of throwing up all night without even blinking an eye. She told me to try to rest & truly helped him as if he was her baby & it was something I’ll never forget! I fully trusted he was okay- even though I was in the corner of the room sleeping while I could, I knew if I wasn’t there, he would have been okay! It really was a super tough night & I don’t know how else to thank her, but I really want her to be acknowledged because it’s situations like that, that make parents feel comfortable with their babies in the care of anyone else besides themselves! Overall, she’s incredibly kind & very attentive, she is very spot on with all his cares & with keeping everything in line & clean/sanitized! Truly one of the best nurses we’ve had on all of his surgeries & hospitals stays!