Danielle serves as a charge nurse on our unit, a patient advocate for our ICU patient populations, a coach to new nurses, is VARN certified, and is truly one of the nurses in our unit that can care for whatever comes through our doors. Danielle typically works weekends and is an asset to the ICU Team and I truly believe having her as a weekend team member is one of the reasons our team works so well and our patient safety outcomes are better. She helps with our Level 1 traumas, stroke patients, CRRT/septic patients, high risk OB, and was a key player in helping a patient get an emergent trach at the bedside, just to name a few. She makes critical, stressful situations better and safer.
ICU sees traumas and tragedies every day, but there are always those cases we never forget. Back in April there was a series of level one traumas that had three men in a car vs another vehicle with a 22-year-old pregnant female. Three of the victims came to Hillcrest and our ICU, including the pregnant female. She was a 22-year-old, 17 weeks pregnant, with another infant at home. She suffered multiple injuries including multiple fractures, a severe liver laceration, splenic laceration, and kidney laceration. Needless to say it was difficult to treat this patient with the severity of her injuries along with her being pregnant.
This patient spent time on and off life support multiple times and endured multiple surgical procedures. From all this stress and medication that was used needless to say she was confused and delirious at times due to adjusting to something new every day. Her parents faced the stress of seeing their child in this predicament and worrying about the wellbeing of their grandchild and future grandchild; every parents' worst nightmare. It is situations like this that make it seem like nothing can make it better. Nothing could make it better, except for a nurse, and Danielle was that nurse.
Danielle spent hours at the bedside, advocating for what the patient needed, working closely with the trauma team, advocating for what was right for her patient at this time or what should wait because something wasn't safe yet. She put the patient and the patient's unborn baby first and always considered how a treatment or procedure could impact both. I know she went shifts without eating or sitting down. When the patient was off life support, she recognized Danielle and her face would light up seeing Danielle and she wouldn't do that for anyone else. There was one problem though, she thought Danielle's name was Alice, so Danielle's new name quickly became "their Alice". Danielle made the patient more comfortable, helped the family cope, listened to them. She truly heard them and made a difference. She was their shoulder to cry on, their voice of reason, their hand to hold, and their source of strength. She was "Their Alice".
When I rounded on the patient and family, the patient's mother told me I can get sleep knowing that Danielle is here with her, I know it will be okay today. This patient spent about a month with us in the ICU and we had all become attached. Unfortunately, while the patient was ambulating, the patient went into respiratory distress, went apneic, and a code was called. Responding to the code were several members of the ICU Team, OB, and the Trauma team, and of course Danielle "Their Alice" was there to help. The team worked on her but time of death was pronounced and the OB Team performed and emergent C-Section to see if the baby could be saved, but the baby passed along with Mom. There were so many angels on all these teams that responded and all teams were truly impacted in a way that we will never forget.
Danielle had been there by this patient's side from day one and the family gave her a hug and said you will always be "our Alice". Danielle dealt with the tragedy of this patient as well as tragedy in her own personal life at the same time. Danielle came to work, hit the ground running, and was compassionate and her super star self. As an ICU nurse in these situations it is easy to question when tragedies like this happen; was it something I did, did I miss something, is nursing right for me? We are only human to ask these things. I can't speak for Danielle but I know it had to be a very difficult time in her life to cope with this tragedy at work and her personal tragedy. I can safely assure her she did everything right, she was that patient and families guardian angel, she never missed anything, and nursing isn't just right for her, it is her destiny. Danielle touches so many lives and truly gets to know her patients, they aren't just a diagnosis or room number, she becomes a part of their family. It the little things like holding their hand, brushing their hair, remembering their family and friends' names, that so many of us forget, but it's those little things that are huge to our patients and that is what Danielle does for them. For one family she was "their Alice", but for me and the ICU family she is our Dani, and our Dani is a DAISY.
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Danielle always goes above and beyond for her patients and their families, assures that they are comfortable and all their needs are met, shows humor to all her patients. Recently Danielle provided compassionate care to a dying patient and his family. She assured they had everything for comfort and stayed after the patient passed away to support the family during difficult times.