My 71-year-old husband had an ischemic stroke in the brain stem (Wallenberg Syndrome), a catastrophic infarct. He spent 42 hours in the emergency department, chaotic, with no continuity of care, dehydrated, and super sick. They saved his life, but he was not stabilized. A bed finally became available on the critical care floor & my husband was moved there at 10 pm. The floor team did their best, but it wasn’t until the next day that the complicated essential orders were finally done.

Kathleen arrived the next morning. She jumped right in and got up to speed rapidly and took on all aspects of [my husband]’s care—vitals, NG essential nutrients feedings, hydration, safety in and out of bed, hygiene, medications on and on. For three days she was his day nurse. With her constant vigilance, knowledge and experience she caught problems early. She worked closely with the attending physician and every specialist: Cardiology, laboratory, OT, speech therapy, PT, nutritionist, on and on. She kept him safe in bed and safe getting out of bed. She reinforced all needed therapies. She is smart and professional, and she cares deeply for her patients. Empathetic, kind, knowing just when to instruct, when to listen, how to make stuff happen, and how to reassure a cognitively impaired, hard to understand (aphasia), unbalanced (ataxia), confused person. And she included me, the wife, a retired physician assistant. I completely trusted her decisions and was so grateful for her incredible problem-solving skills in a constantly changing, complex neurological multi-system trauma. I even went home to rest knowing she was in charge and capable. And she asked all the right questions of me to understand him and to help his brain begin to heal and her colleagues to glean every piece of information she needed to improve the outcome of my husband’s life.

I worked 9 years in primary care in a community health center in Alaska and 16 years around the world providing medical care at US Embassies in mostly third world countries. She is in the top five of excellent nurses I have met. The ones who are smart, curious, knowledgeable, patient-focused, and can get along with anyone anywhere, anytime. I am so very grateful she was my husband’s nurse these heartbreaking critically ill days. She gave me hope. And when I finally broke down in tears of fear and fatigue, she quietly encouraged me. That together, we could take care of him. Thank you, Kathleen! And thank you, St. Michael, for hiring and supporting an exceptional nurse.