Reisha Brown was assigned to care for a 12 month old infant admitted to our Pediatric Intensive Care Unit under very difficult circumstances. Despite our best efforts, the baby died. In spite of their grief, the child's mother, great grandmother, and family friend wrote customer service keys for Reisha. The great grandmother said "This young lady has been the most considerate and caring nurse I have ever had the pleasure to be with. She made my great grandson's final days bearable. I don't think my granddaughter could have handled the death of her son if it had not been for her caring and friendly personality." The family friend wrote an equally compelling description of Reisha's efforts on their behalf. She said "I know she is a very compassionate person by the way she is so informative and helpful to all the family members. It made the sad time a little more bearable for them. I would give her a 15 on a scale of 10. She was that great to us."

While these two nominations were very special, the mother's words and actions while coping with such grief were extraordinary. She wrote "I truly appreciate her. She did EVERYTHING in her power to make sure that he was ok and comfortable. She was very compassionate. I believe she deserves every reward and recognition that she could get. She treated him like he was her own. She is absolutely wonderful. I cannot stress that enough. Please bless her. She deserves it. God has servants here on earth and she is definitely one." What made this customer service key stand apart from others is that the mother requested that the nurse manager call her to ensure that Reisha was duly recognized. She even went so far as to ask the charge nurse to leave the nurse manager a note with the same request.

Reisha's sensitivity and compassion will certainly help to comfort this young mother and her family as they travel the journey of grief and difficult road ahead.