My father-in-law has been in the CCU unit for about fourteen days now. He has had extraordinary care the entire time and through the expertise of his CCU team, it seems as though he is on the mend.

However, in the course of unforeseen circumstances or chance encounters sometimes your life is made somewhat easier and a little less stressful by the kindness shown by someone who is just doing their job. One nurse, just doing her job is Dawn.

Dawn is an amazing nurse and we would like to recognize her for outstanding knowledge in her field, compassion for her patients, and kindness to the family. Just a few hours after her shift began and her very first time caring for the patient she quickly learned our entire family's first names and always addressed us as such. Two days later, when she returned from her days off, she still remembered our names without hesitation.

Although Dawn was constantly busy between our room and the other patient she was caring for she never let the stress of the job get to her. She was always calm, courteous and treated every concern or request with the utmost of consideration. If she saw a situation that needed attention, she did not hesitate to page the doctor, or set up the EKG and get a reading. She explained every procedure, every beep of the machine, every line going in and going out; and kept us informed as to what was going on in detail so that we were never left guessing.

Whether she was feeding our dad ice chips or administering medications, Dawn exemplified the true meaning of a nurse. Thank you Dawn for just being you.