My precious Granny fell, which resulted in horrible trauma to her body, including possible spinal shock, which caused her to require resuscitation in the ER. After she was stabilized, she was admitted to AICU on the 8th Floor. Every nurse we encountered was wonderful. Each one so caring to my grandmother, so careful with her fragile body, and so kind to each of our family members. Every single staff member was patient, skilled, pleasant, and accommodating. This was by far one of the most devastating weeks of my entire life. My Granny passed away while in the ICU. I am lucky and extremely honored to have had her in my life for 44 years. We were very close and spoke nearly every day. I am an RN because she thought I would be good at nursing. My license became official on her 72nd birthday. She was so proud of that. She absolutely loved to hear stories about the everyday life of a nurse during our morning chats. I know it is impossible to really understand the character of our patients as they lie in a bed broken, but Granny Grace was a great woman and she deserved so much more than this horrific ending to her long life.

As I begin my journey of grief, it has given me much comfort to know that she was surrounded and cared for by a group of stellar nursing professionals. I know that she noticed how wonderful the staff was treating her, and I know being cared for by this caliber of nurses made her proud of each one of them. It breaks my heart that we will never get to discuss these nurses because she was such an observant woman with a strong admiration and respect for the nursing profession, and I am sure if things had turned out differently, she would have had so many lovely things to say. As the manager of this ICU, you should be very proud. Many times during our stay, I was very proud of you.