Angie Gaul
January 2025
Angie
Gaul
,
BSN, RN
Surgical and Neuroscience Intensive Care Unit (SNICU)
University of Iowa Health Care
Iowa City
,
IA
United States
To say Angie left a lasting impact on our family is an understatement.
Angie cared for my father-in-law after a serious car accident. Her care went above and beyond. When we first got there, we were all obviously concerned. She took the time to explain every single detail to us. We know nurses are always extremely busy, so it meant the world to us that she never got annoyed and made sure to answer all of our questions.
After a couple of days in the SNICU, my father-in-law was being taken down for a scan and on the way down (being assisted by Angie), he coded. She performed CPR, in assistance with another nurse, as they waited for help to come. Because of Angie and her help's quick response, my father-in-law pulled through. The compassion she showed when we visited the next day was unlike any other nurse I've dealt with. After rounds that next day, she sat in the room with us and again answered all of our questions.
Fast forward a week, Angie was back and was his nurse again. When she came in, we knew that we could breathe a sigh of relief as we knew my father-in-law would have the highest level of care. That morning, we were uncertain if we would have to make the most difficult decision of our lives...to take him off of life support. We listened to rounds again and had Angie interpret what they said. We knew then that our family meeting was going to be an important one. With a heavy heart we made the decision to end my father-in-law's suffering. Not knowing what that end was going to look like, we had Angie "hold our hands" through it. She accommodated every ask, made sure he was comfortable, cleaned him up, talked with us, and made all of our keepsakes with a compassionate heart. Angie went above and beyond what we could have ever imagined. She honored him in his final hours.
To say Angie left a lasting impact on our family is an understatement. Angie needs to know how much it means to families like ours that she takes the time to care for and honor our loved ones. Like I said above, I have never met a nurse like Angie. Before I left that unit for Palliative Care, I made sure to give Angie a hug and let her know just how much her taking care of my father-in-law meant to me. I told her to please never change. I know some patients are harder to deal with than others, but I told her to never let that dim her spark! She was outstanding! If I could nominate her every day I would!
After a couple of days in the SNICU, my father-in-law was being taken down for a scan and on the way down (being assisted by Angie), he coded. She performed CPR, in assistance with another nurse, as they waited for help to come. Because of Angie and her help's quick response, my father-in-law pulled through. The compassion she showed when we visited the next day was unlike any other nurse I've dealt with. After rounds that next day, she sat in the room with us and again answered all of our questions.
Fast forward a week, Angie was back and was his nurse again. When she came in, we knew that we could breathe a sigh of relief as we knew my father-in-law would have the highest level of care. That morning, we were uncertain if we would have to make the most difficult decision of our lives...to take him off of life support. We listened to rounds again and had Angie interpret what they said. We knew then that our family meeting was going to be an important one. With a heavy heart we made the decision to end my father-in-law's suffering. Not knowing what that end was going to look like, we had Angie "hold our hands" through it. She accommodated every ask, made sure he was comfortable, cleaned him up, talked with us, and made all of our keepsakes with a compassionate heart. Angie went above and beyond what we could have ever imagined. She honored him in his final hours.
To say Angie left a lasting impact on our family is an understatement. Angie needs to know how much it means to families like ours that she takes the time to care for and honor our loved ones. Like I said above, I have never met a nurse like Angie. Before I left that unit for Palliative Care, I made sure to give Angie a hug and let her know just how much her taking care of my father-in-law meant to me. I told her to please never change. I know some patients are harder to deal with than others, but I told her to never let that dim her spark! She was outstanding! If I could nominate her every day I would!