Avery Rife
October 2024
Avery
Rife
,
BSN, RN
Level 9-Medical
Children's Hospital Colorado
Aurora
,
CO
United States
Her presence during this period of time turned out to be the greatest blessing – it provided all three of us with encouragement, support, and an understanding that we were being cared for by one of the best nurses in the building.
Our 3.5-year-old daughter was a patient for a week at Children's (Anschutz), which was a truly emotional time for her and her entire family. As this was her first stay at a hospital and our initial expectations for care were 1-2 days, we all were dealing with significant uncertainty. Beginning in the ER and transitioning to the 9th floor, each experience for our young daughter was new, overwhelming, and scary. What we at first deemed to be a relatively quick trip extended into a full week with greater care/monitoring than anyone truly expected. As we began to better understand and appreciate the timeline and health needs of our daughter, her mother and I tried our best to maintain our composure (amidst significant fear/sadness for what escalated into a serious health condition) and ensure our daughter felt more comfortable around the growing number of doctors, nurses, and CAs that rotated into our room each day.
However, as we continued to receive crucial care/support across the staff, our daughter and we (her parents) quickly noticed the empathy and excellence that Avery brings to work throughout the entirety of each shift at Children's. Specifically, Avery’s ability to meet our daughter at her comfort level within her boundaries and through her expression of compassion/empathy extended beyond our normal experience during our stay. Her top priority was not only providing our daughter with the highest level of care, but at each point along the way, she demonstrated her ability to clearly articulate to her mom and me the current situation, our care plan, as well as to answer the numerous questions/concerns we had each day amidst our stressful situation.
Her deep knowledge of my daughter’s condition and the best path forward stood out in each conversation. It was also through these experiences, that it became evident Avery clearly has high emotional intelligence on top of being an incredible contributor to the team. We worked with Avery during what turned out to be the best and toughest time of our week-long stay at Children's. Her presence during this period of time turned out to be the greatest blessing – it provided all three of us with encouragement, support, and an understanding that we were being cared for by one of the best nurses in the building.
On our last couple of days at the hospital (during which Avery was not scheduled), our daughter coined her with the appropriate nickname of “the nice nurse”. She began to ask when she got to see the “nice nurse” again and what messages we should tell her (i.e., that her favorite show is Encanto!). This is truly meaningful, as our daughter is quite shy in general, but the visit to Children's (full of new experiences, ongoing rotation of new team members entering the room, all on top of her sickness and not feeling well) really left her overwhelmed and scared. However, each of her interactions with Avery left our daughter feeling comfortable, heard, and well cared for – which speaks volumes!
However, as we continued to receive crucial care/support across the staff, our daughter and we (her parents) quickly noticed the empathy and excellence that Avery brings to work throughout the entirety of each shift at Children's. Specifically, Avery’s ability to meet our daughter at her comfort level within her boundaries and through her expression of compassion/empathy extended beyond our normal experience during our stay. Her top priority was not only providing our daughter with the highest level of care, but at each point along the way, she demonstrated her ability to clearly articulate to her mom and me the current situation, our care plan, as well as to answer the numerous questions/concerns we had each day amidst our stressful situation.
Her deep knowledge of my daughter’s condition and the best path forward stood out in each conversation. It was also through these experiences, that it became evident Avery clearly has high emotional intelligence on top of being an incredible contributor to the team. We worked with Avery during what turned out to be the best and toughest time of our week-long stay at Children's. Her presence during this period of time turned out to be the greatest blessing – it provided all three of us with encouragement, support, and an understanding that we were being cared for by one of the best nurses in the building.
On our last couple of days at the hospital (during which Avery was not scheduled), our daughter coined her with the appropriate nickname of “the nice nurse”. She began to ask when she got to see the “nice nurse” again and what messages we should tell her (i.e., that her favorite show is Encanto!). This is truly meaningful, as our daughter is quite shy in general, but the visit to Children's (full of new experiences, ongoing rotation of new team members entering the room, all on top of her sickness and not feeling well) really left her overwhelmed and scared. However, each of her interactions with Avery left our daughter feeling comfortable, heard, and well cared for – which speaks volumes!