Let me begin with a little backstory on my daughter. My daughter has lived in and out of hospitals all her life, being born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome and receiving a heart transplant in 2012. She is developmentally delayed and also suffers from severe anxiety from spending so much of her life in and out of hospitals. No visit or procedure can ever be done without a great deal of stress for my daughter and for us. It usually includes heavy medication being required just to attempt to get my daughter to a procedure. Even with those on board, she will cry, scream, slap herself, and just all-around meltdown.

Today, we had an amazing nurse who created a completely unique and relaxing experience: Olivia. She kept my daughter and us calm and comfortable, from making the IV fun and waiting until she was ready to the post-procedure care.

My daughter is a hard stick, but Olivia got it on the first try, and talked to her in such a calming way that she actually wanted to get the IV. She didn't even notice it even happening. Then, during the whole wait till it was time to do her procedure, Olivia joked with her and talked to her to help keep her distracted from stressing about the actual procedure that was about to happen. She was very in tune with special needs children and caught on very fast with how I interacted with my daughter to try to keep her calm. She ran with it, and I was in awe. It was nothing short of amazing. Never in 12 years of medical procedures has my daughter been able to have them done without the need for heavy meds. Instead of being a scary and painful procedure, our nurse created a happy and relaxed experience for my daughter and us, which is huge. Olivia made this stressful and emotional day calm and relaxed.

Creating that positive experience during a stressful time means more than words to special needs families. Words can't thank Olivia enough for making today a positive, quick, pain-free, and all-around enjoyable experience. She was amazing.