Sara Demello
June 2024
Sara
Demello
,
RN, BSN
Phillips 21, Medicine
Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston
,
MA
United States

 

 

 

She takes the time to assess the situation and make sure she is taking the best next step for the patient and communicating what she does along the way.
Sara Demello made a huge impact on my mom during her time at MGH. Sara was my mom’s nurse early on in her stay at MGH and continued to see her whenever she was back as an inpatient. They developed a great relationship with each other and with our family. My mom went through a lot of ups and downs during her stay, eventually developing delirium that would sometimes include anxiety and hallucinations. Sara was amazing through all of it. When Sara entered the room, my mom would instantly relax because she knew Sara would take care of her. Even just telling my mom that Sara was her nurse that day instantly made her feel calmer because she trusted Sara so much. My mom started having more challenges with her health and anxiety during her stay at MGH. Sara was amazing at supporting my mom through this. Sara gifted my mom a coin with an angel on it. My mom really appreciated this and wanted to make sure the coin was in a safe place where she could see it. My mom takes a lot of solace in her religion during tough times, and it was very nice of Sara to have noticed the priests visiting my mom and give her this gift. Sara was great at explaining what was going on medically to my family and to my mom. She was great at meeting my mom where she was at mentally and not overloading her with information if she wasn’t able to understand it. She never spoke down to my mom through her delirium and hallucinations and was able to redirect her gently if she was beginning to become nervous. Sara was great about being attentive to all the complexities of my mom’s condition and communicating well with the doctors and NPs. For example, at one point my mom was repeatedly asking for extra anxiety medicine whenever she was waking up from naps. Sara noticed this seemed to be a reflex and recommended we wait a few minutes and talk to our mom before giving another dose. It turned out she was exactly right, and we were able to avoid giving her too much anxiety medication and unnecessarily sedating our mom. It’s actions like these that show how detail-oriented and reliable Sara is as a nurse. She takes the time to assess the situation and make sure she is taking the best next step for the patient and communicating what she does along the way. We so appreciate everything Sara did for our mom and can’t even begin to express how thankful we are for her care.