Mary Anker
May 2025
Mary
Anker
,
RN
CVICU
Heart Hospital of Austin
Austin
,
TX
United States
She also allowed me time to make hard decisions regarding his care and walked me through every step, assuring me that he was in good hands and that she would do whatever was necessary to ensure that.
My father was transferred to the CVICU for congestive heart failure, which devolved into multi-organ failure. My family and I live out of town, so we had to drive 3 hours to be at his bedside. I took over as the informant for the family who could not be there. I was also responsible for signing off on procedures in my mother’s absence. As my father was dying in the CVICU, Mary was the stable figure. She treated my father with respect and dignity, even when he lacked both for himself. She was comforting to me and my family and made sure we were informed and involved. She allowed me to sit and read to him during bedside procedures, gave us privacy to speak with him, and talked me through the process of caring for myself and my family as he neared the end of his life. Without her, the situation would’ve been far more traumatic. I specifically remember her pulling me into the hallway to check in with me and see if I was doing okay throughout the day. She also allowed me time to make hard decisions regarding his care and walked me through every step, assuring me that he was in good hands and that she would do whatever was necessary to ensure that. Mary made a significant difference in my life and made the end of my father’s much more comfortable. She deserves the accolades of this award as fair retribution for her efforts in his and my family’s lives. It’s the least I can do to nominate her.
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Mary Anker was a nurse who took care of my husband while he was an inpatient in the Cardiac Intensive Care unit. His case was very complicated and time-intensive. Mary went above and beyond to care for my husband and was very caring. Myself and my children were very impressed and appreciative of her truly empathetic ways. Even though my husband died, Mary stood out to all of us, and I felt she deserved to be awarded a DAISY!
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My father-in-law spent the last two weeks of his life in the Austin Heart Hospital. Mary was assigned to his room shortly after his arrival, and we saw her nearly every day until we switched to hospice care. She is the kindest, most patient, and most caring nurse and person I’ve ever met. She always met the family with a smile no matter how bad things looked and never let us leave without a good night. We all had so many questions, often ones that had been asked many times before, and she answered all of them in a way that someone who had no medical knowledge would understand. You could tell she cared deeply about my father. The most notable thing I remember her doing was being there for us as people. We were in the hospital the week before college finals week. My partner and I are both undergraduate students at a college far from Austin, and we wanted to ensure we completed our finals, but we were so afraid to leave Austin that we were worried something might happen while we were away. We were at a standstill; we didn’t know what to do. But Mary sat with us and put her title aside to talk to us as a person, not just a nurse. She helped us figure out what to do and eased our minds about leaving Austin for a day to take our finals. It’s not been long since we left the hospital, but to this day, when we talk about our time there, we always bring up how amazing and kind Mary was. She is outstanding.
***
Mary Anker was a nurse who took care of my husband while he was an inpatient in the Cardiac Intensive Care unit. His case was very complicated and time-intensive. Mary went above and beyond to care for my husband and was very caring. Myself and my children were very impressed and appreciative of her truly empathetic ways. Even though my husband died, Mary stood out to all of us, and I felt she deserved to be awarded a DAISY!
***
My father-in-law spent the last two weeks of his life in the Austin Heart Hospital. Mary was assigned to his room shortly after his arrival, and we saw her nearly every day until we switched to hospice care. She is the kindest, most patient, and most caring nurse and person I’ve ever met. She always met the family with a smile no matter how bad things looked and never let us leave without a good night. We all had so many questions, often ones that had been asked many times before, and she answered all of them in a way that someone who had no medical knowledge would understand. You could tell she cared deeply about my father. The most notable thing I remember her doing was being there for us as people. We were in the hospital the week before college finals week. My partner and I are both undergraduate students at a college far from Austin, and we wanted to ensure we completed our finals, but we were so afraid to leave Austin that we were worried something might happen while we were away. We were at a standstill; we didn’t know what to do. But Mary sat with us and put her title aside to talk to us as a person, not just a nurse. She helped us figure out what to do and eased our minds about leaving Austin for a day to take our finals. It’s not been long since we left the hospital, but to this day, when we talk about our time there, we always bring up how amazing and kind Mary was. She is outstanding.