As part of her clinical experience, Emily travels with me to nursing homes that I am contracted with. I assigned her a patient with dementia who was having hallucinations. She spent over 30 minutes talking with the patient and reassuring her about her condition. After she and I discussed our plan, Emily offered to call the patient's daughter and review her mom's condition with her. She spent 45 minutes on the phone with the daughter and gave her personal cell phone to the daughter. The patient’s daughter was so grateful and was requesting Emily's presence at every visit with her mother. The daughter repeatedly called Emily to ask her for updates, and Emily is still chatting with her off and on to provide nursing education and support while the daughter comes to terms with her mom's new baseline. I have been so impressed with her dedication and selflessness to provide comfort and support to this family.

Another episode of Emily’s character was when we were seeing a long-term patient of mine in the office. She was getting to the point where her family could not care for her at home and was entertaining nursing home care. Emily spent over 30 minutes in the room counseling the family about the best way to get a nursing home admission covered and again gave the family her personal cell phone. Emily reached out to her contacts at the local nursing home where she works and advocated tirelessly with the hospital and with the nursing home administration to get her accepted to the facility. She spent personal time on the phone with the family while my patient was in the hospital awaiting the nursing home bed and provided the emotional and educational support the family desperately needed. There are many more instances in which Emily has shown compassion and care. I have been so impressed by Emily's work ethic, caring and selfless nature, and her willingness to go above and beyond to provide love and support for our patients. She will be an amazing nurse practitioner.