My mother has been ill for quite some time with neuropathy after having gone through chemotherapy for lung cancer twice. The neuropathy will not get better, we have been told, as it has been too long, so she is very weak and fragile. Recently she has had pneumonia twice, and both times she was admitted to St. Mary's Hospital in Amsterdam NY. She is currently a patient. The hospital staff here has been wonderful on both occasions, but there is something special about Abby. Abby enters the room with a big smile and such positive energy. In moments, she has my mother, sick as she is, smiling and even cracking jokes. She responds quickly and helps in areas most nurses pass off to aides and housekeeping staff, such as removing mom’s dinner tray from the room, tracking down a cold Ensure for mom, labeling drinks that have gotten warm in mom's room and putting them away in the fridge for her (she won't drink them once warm). She really is someone special who genuinely cares about her patients and their comfort, not just there to chart and take orders. It seems to me that Abby is exactly the type of nurse this type of award was made for.