Our baby was born 1 month early and was admitted to the NICU right after his birth. Viry was one of the first nurses we met in the NICU, and we were immediately impressed with her ability to care for our son quickly and efficiently while also showing empathy to us as his parents. Every time we visited the NICU while Viry was there, she patiently listened to our concerns and answered the questions we had while also explaining to us the specific “next steps” of our son's care plan. As first-time parents, my husband B and I were overwhelmed by this experience of having our baby in the NICU and struggled with some pretty strong emotions. B was especially struggling at this time because it had been 3 days since our son was born, and he still hadn’t had a chance to hold him. When Viry found out about this and knew it was something important to us, she immediately made this one of her top priorities and goals for the day. She ensured that we were involved in our son's care so that he could be ready for skin-to-skin time with B.

This experience was so important to us and allowed B to have a very meaningful bonding experience with our son. It helped him heal from the emotional trauma he was experiencing and gave him hope in a moment of uncertainty. We truly felt like Viry was our friend and cared about us, even though we had just met. We felt confident leaving our son in her care because we knew that she would do everything she could to keep him comfortable and healthy.