We had the joy of having Andrew during both of our inpatient experiences, and he quickly became our favorite nurse. Andrew is the definition of a great medical provider by having a deep level of compassion for people. He regularly encouraged us to do what we felt was best for our child, and was intentional when we made requests for our son. More impressively, Andrew’s compassion was seen in the routine things like always asking before touching the patient, literally getting on our child’s level, being as quiet as possible when our child finally fell asleep, and having endless amounts of patience.

More specifically about Andrew’s patience: we were at St Jude when Epic went live. Many staff were stressed and some even to the point of getting flustered… but not Andrew! At least, not in front of his patients. He always kept calm and handled the technology issues away from us, because patients shouldn’t be carrying that extra burden. Andrew’s level of calm helped keep us calm and confident in the care being provided.

He’s also a master at anticipating needs, and even advocating for them ahead of time! Our child is very busy, so when we were in isolation Andrew was in constant communication with the doctors to see what we could do to ease our stress. Andrew was able to find safe ways to get us outside and temporarily unhooked from fluids. We didn’t even know those were options until Andrew made it happen.

He would also closely monitor our test results, so he could follow up with additional education after the doctors spoke with us (because you always think of questions after they leave) and if he didn’t know the answer, he would quickly find it. One of our favorite things about Andrew was how he would simply take the time to chat with us. Hospitals and cancer diagnoses are stressful enough, so having a few minutes to talk about sports or family helped the time pass by. It’s these small but intentional moments that make a big difference for families. Thanks for being a great nurse, Andrew. We wish you well!