I could not think of a more deserving group of people.  As with all healthcare workers, their lives were completely flipped upside down during the COVID-19 pandemic.  March 14, 2020, was the last day CICU was known as "CICU,” and it had turned into a closed COVID ICU.  The staff from this unit saw their patient population rapidly become the most acutely ill they had ever seen.  They took this challenge with such passion, grace, and devotion to their patients and each other.  Everyone had to take a crash course on ECMO, as the unit quickly became full, most times all 10 beds, with VV ECMO. 

Throughout the pandemic, CICU staff were dedicated to their patients, families, staff, and each other.  Some rented an Airbnb together in the early days, to prevent bringing this unknown disease home to their loved ones.  The staff of CICU had then become stretched among 3 units daily; T1, CICU, and then COVID ICU.  PACU Flex then became a unit we oversaw as well.  T1 was not equipped for ICU patients.  The team advocated and worked tirelessly to get the supplies we needed to be stocked in that unit.  There was a huge safety gap with not having all the rooms tele on a central monitor in the hallway.  Therefore, we advocated and got multiple monitors installed in the hall of T1 and all patient's telemetry was shown. Due to this, they had to train countless travel nurses and teach them the WellSpan way, with the high expectation of CICU teamwork and passion. 

Patients oftentimes were in CICU for weeks, even months at a time on ECMO; paralyzed, sedated, and unable to see or speak to their loved ones.  Every single member of the staff of CICU treated each and every patient like they were their own family.  Often, as I strolled through the unit, I would see someone head-to-toe in PPE, sitting and holding a patient's hand, holding a Zoom tablet so a patient and their families could see and hear each other, sometimes for the last time, wiping away tears from patients' eyes and sometimes each other.  Staff members had bought hair products so they could brush out matted hair and would braid it for those who had long hair.  Rooms would be decorated and covered with cards, letters, and pictures of loved ones.  There was a patient who played Santa Claus, and his room looked like Christmas.  One patient was a lima bean farmer and he loved what he did.  One of the nurses put pictures of lima beans on the ceiling, so that when the patient opened his eyes, he would be reminded of something that made him happy.  They celebrated birthdays, anniversaries, and even a wedding with their patients, using their own money to buy decorations and balloons for the patients' rooms. 

There was one particular patient that was in the unit for half of the year.  He missed many major events in his family's life.  The staff did all they could to make him a part of their lives.  Once he got a trach and was strong enough to get a few words out, staff helped him record his voice to place in a teddy bear for his 4-year-old daughter.  staff created a Go-Fund-Me for this family.  They helped buy a small gift for him to give to his wife for her birthday, and they donated and bought Christmas gifts for the 4 kids. 

There was a young couple, with two small children who were just starting out and had no one but each other.  A staff member of CICU offered to "babysit" the two young children in the unit while the woman had come in to visit and say goodbye to her dying husband.  There were countless more acts that seemed small to the staff of CICU but were huge for patients and their families.  This unit received hundreds of “Thank Yous” from patients and families during and after they cared for the patient, even a year later.  This team made such a strong impact on patients and their families that we still hear from them, and they come to visit us, even 2 years later. 

I am writing this nomination as a member of CICU myself, but I had become pregnant just a few weeks prior to the start of the pandemic, and again one month prior to the summer surge of 2021.  I had been relocated for the safety of myself and my unborn child.  This was such a hard thing to do because I didn't want to leave my team.  I knew that I wouldn’t find such a strong, close-knit group of amazing humans.  After I had my babies, I was so excited to come back to my work family.  I am so proud of each of them, both old and new.  The same dedication and passion seen pre and during the pandemic are seen post-pandemic, as we now navigate trying to get our unit back to how it was.  We are advocating and fighting to bring our patient population back to our unit.  I am so impressed with all the new nurses who started during the pandemic, and all they knew was COVID, and ECMO.  Their drive to learn and educate themselves on the current patient population is inspiring.  It makes me happy knowing we found even more amazing humans to add to our exceptional team.