June 2024
Grace
Grimaldi
,
BSN, RN
L&D
Inova Alexandria Hospital
Alexandria
,
VA
United States
Grace spoke up for me when medical decisions needed to be made, and I truly can’t thank her enough for such a wonderful birth experience.
Grace was the most, loving, kind, and knowledgeable person. She made such a positive impact on my experience of becoming a first time mom. I was treated with such kindness and respect for the entire 12 hour shift we were together.
Going into my scheduled induction for my first baby, I was full of fear. My life experiences with staying at a hospital during my life had been negative, so the thought of staying overnight and birthing my child was scary. I had heard so many stories of things going wrong and complications that I was not in a great headspace. A few hours after we checked in, we met our nurse, Grace. The odds of Grace being our nurse seemed slim as she explained that she floated between 4 different hospitals and I had tried to change my induction time to earlier that day. To say it was meant to be doesn’t begin to explain how my husband and I felt. Grace made me feel at ease immediately with all of my decisions and questions. When my water broke all over the bathroom floor, it was Grace’s excited face that I found such comfort in as she told me to not worry. Grace gave easy-to-understand directions during all the labor and delivery steps. She answered all my questions no matter how trivial they seemed. Grace and my husband were my constant pillars of strength as my labor progressed much faster than anyone had planned. When my obgyn of 14 years, who had planned to deliver my daughter, missed the birth by 6 hours, it was Grace who stepped up to be the familiar and encouraging person I needed. Grace spoke up for me when medical decisions needed to be made, and I truly can’t thank her enough for such a wonderful birth experience. We had our precious daughter at 6:02am. Grace’s shift ended at 7:00am and we were moved to a different floor to recover shortly after that. We never had a chance to tell Grace that her actions touched us so much that we decided to add a second middle name for our new daughter… and that middle name was Grace.
This nomination is evidence of Caritas
1 Embrace (Loving Kindness)
Practice loving kindness
4 Nurture (Relationship)
Develop helping-trusting relationships
Going into my scheduled induction for my first baby, I was full of fear. My life experiences with staying at a hospital during my life had been negative, so the thought of staying overnight and birthing my child was scary. I had heard so many stories of things going wrong and complications that I was not in a great headspace. A few hours after we checked in, we met our nurse, Grace. The odds of Grace being our nurse seemed slim as she explained that she floated between 4 different hospitals and I had tried to change my induction time to earlier that day. To say it was meant to be doesn’t begin to explain how my husband and I felt. Grace made me feel at ease immediately with all of my decisions and questions. When my water broke all over the bathroom floor, it was Grace’s excited face that I found such comfort in as she told me to not worry. Grace gave easy-to-understand directions during all the labor and delivery steps. She answered all my questions no matter how trivial they seemed. Grace and my husband were my constant pillars of strength as my labor progressed much faster than anyone had planned. When my obgyn of 14 years, who had planned to deliver my daughter, missed the birth by 6 hours, it was Grace who stepped up to be the familiar and encouraging person I needed. Grace spoke up for me when medical decisions needed to be made, and I truly can’t thank her enough for such a wonderful birth experience. We had our precious daughter at 6:02am. Grace’s shift ended at 7:00am and we were moved to a different floor to recover shortly after that. We never had a chance to tell Grace that her actions touched us so much that we decided to add a second middle name for our new daughter… and that middle name was Grace.
This nomination is evidence of Caritas
1 Embrace (Loving Kindness)
Practice loving kindness
4 Nurture (Relationship)
Develop helping-trusting relationships