I want to thank you for taking such great care of my pop and the rest of the family for the last five years. Jenn has been my pop’s nurse for the last five years, and he always looked forward to her visits. She would come in with a smile and say hi to everyone but made sure to focus on my pop. She would listen to his stories about my grandma and my uncle and the jokes that Pop liked to repeat over and over again. My mom was my pop’s full-time caregiver, and I know that before Jenn was our nurse, she was really struggling to understand Pop’s dementia. Jenn made sure to explain my pop’s health issues especially his dementia and would give suggestions about how to cope with the dementia behaviors. My mom would always say, “I got to call Jenn” when she was frustrated or thought something was wrong with my pop.

Pop had several home health nurses through the years, but they always made us feel like they were rushing and not really listening to us. Jenn never made us feel rushed, she would always listen, offer suggestions, and would show us the latest video or pictures of her dogs. My pop really enjoyed watching the videos or talking about her dogs as we were not able to have dogs as it would be too much work for my mom with taking care of Pop. You could see that Jenn really cared and just wanted to make my Pop and family as comfortable as possible.

Recently, before my pop passed, he went to Mather ED, and he was transferred to the hospital on Travis AFB. My mom and I went to see my pop, but my mom could not get on base as she did not have a real ID. My mom didn’t have the other documentation that would let her on base. Jenn called the base, and the hospital staff offering to come down and sponsor and escort my mom to the hospital so she could see pop. Unfortunately, the military police would not allow Jenn to do that. Jenn gave my mom phone numbers to social security and looked up how to request her birth certificate online. When nothing else worked, Jenn found a number of some politician who helps veterans. My mom was worried that she was not going to see my pop before he passed.

Jenn and the HBPC staff have discussed hospice with my pop and mom, and explained how things would work if Pop was placed on hospice. The hospital staff started talking about hospice, and soon after Jenn called my mom to walk through the options that were available. My Pop was able to come home and was supposed to be admitted to hospice, but the hospice nurse said that Pop seemed to bounce back once he was home and did not admit him. Jenn came out a couple of days after Pop came home and explained that Pop was still hospice-appropriate if my mom wanted hospice. My mom had to think about it for a bit, and Jenn was so supportive. Jenn and the provider finally said it was definitely time for hospice, and everyone got everything into place so quickly.

My mom was afraid that because my pop was going on hospice that we wouldn’t see Jenn, but Jenn made sure that she was available anytime my mom had a question or issue. Jenn worked with the hospice team to ensure that my pop was comfortable in his remaining days. The day Pop died, we were able to be with him, and we knew what his passing may look like as Jenn had prepared us for this moment. Once they took Pop away, Mom went across the street to a neighbor’s home. I remember her saying, “I need to call Jenn.” Jenn talked to my mom on the phone for over an hour. She thanked my mom for taking such great care of Pop and assured my mom that she did a great job. She has been calling to check on my mom, asking how she did after her hand surgery. Even though Jenn was Pop’s nurse, she took care of the family, and I would like to thank her for being kind, caring, and an amazing nurse. She always said that she could not accept gifts, but hopefully, she will accept this award as our thanks.