My son, a medically fragile child, is constantly in and out of the hospital with ever-new complications. We deal with a lot of surprises that come our way and Susan Ackerman, the home dialysis nurse has offered us a great deal of support. Not only did she train us for doing peritoneal dialysis at home, but she also keeps in touch with us on a constant basis. She offers me encouragement and increases my confidence in my ability to do my son's dialysis at home. She is always willing to lend us an ear when we are experiencing difficulties with other aspects of his care and dealing with them physically and emotionally, which truly makes me appreciate her a lot. She genuinely acknowledges the hardships that has come our way, something not a lot of people can offer us as nobody around us has such a sick child, thereby making us feel isolated sometimes. I am always happy to see her. Her bright and smiling face makes me excited to go to the hospital if we do ever happen to stay away for three weeks. During Clinic visits, she will happily take my son for a walk to take him off of our hands so I can focus on addressing his care with the rest of the healthcare team. This is not part of her job, thus demonstrating her caring nature and willingness to go above and beyond to help me maximize benefit from the visit. Susan deserves this award and many more. She aids us in putting together rather spontaneous plans for trips to get a break from things. In essence, she is a non-judgmental, ever-present, emphatic, and extremely knowledge person who melts my heart!