Bren Guerra
December 2025
Bren
Guerra
,
BSN, RN
CICU
Manning Family Children's
New Orleans
,
LA
United States
True connection, compassion, and the ability to reassure others in some of their scariest moments are true gifts!
I have a 16-year-old who was diagnosed with Wolff Parkinson White about 6 years ago. Having no idea what that was or the scares we could possibly get was daunting for a mother. In our first several years, she did really well, then, as she became a young woman, we started having more and more days where her resting heart rate, which we had become used to being 100-110, became an HR in the 200s.
Learning about the Electro-Physiology study with Ablation, while it sounded like a great option, was terrifying to think my tiny child would have catheters running through her body, agitating her heart to make sure that we fixed the root of her issue. From the moment we stepped into Children’s for her procedure, every single person we met was kind and understanding of our nerves. If I knew just who awaited us when we moved to the unit after surgery, I would've been immediately calmer.
Bren was our nurse after surgery. She not only looked at us as parents and walked us through every single move she made, but she also made sure that our daughter was aware and understood. She was extremely anxious after surgery, wanting to get up, use a regular restroom, and just feel normal. Not once did Bren seem put off or like she had other patients to attend to, and believe me, trying to get her to use the restroom in a bedpan was challenging!
This child literally looked at us both, blamed me, her mom, and said, "This is your fault, you potty trained me too well as a child, and told me not to pee in the bed, and now y'all want me to pee in the bed!" I don't think any of us have laughed so hard since her diagnosis! Our entire time, it was like we were her only patients! The only person who meant the world to Bren in that moment was our daughter!
For a mom, nothing in the world compares to that. True connection, compassion, and the ability to reassure others in some of their scariest moments are true gifts! So thank you! Thank you, Bren, for helping us through that time, and thank you, Children’s, for your wisdom when hiring, not only looking for people who have the job skills, but also the people skills. I run a team of 26 at my job, and I tell them all, I can teach you how to work here, but I can't teach you how to care for people. It has to be a blessing you are given.
Learning about the Electro-Physiology study with Ablation, while it sounded like a great option, was terrifying to think my tiny child would have catheters running through her body, agitating her heart to make sure that we fixed the root of her issue. From the moment we stepped into Children’s for her procedure, every single person we met was kind and understanding of our nerves. If I knew just who awaited us when we moved to the unit after surgery, I would've been immediately calmer.
Bren was our nurse after surgery. She not only looked at us as parents and walked us through every single move she made, but she also made sure that our daughter was aware and understood. She was extremely anxious after surgery, wanting to get up, use a regular restroom, and just feel normal. Not once did Bren seem put off or like she had other patients to attend to, and believe me, trying to get her to use the restroom in a bedpan was challenging!
This child literally looked at us both, blamed me, her mom, and said, "This is your fault, you potty trained me too well as a child, and told me not to pee in the bed, and now y'all want me to pee in the bed!" I don't think any of us have laughed so hard since her diagnosis! Our entire time, it was like we were her only patients! The only person who meant the world to Bren in that moment was our daughter!
For a mom, nothing in the world compares to that. True connection, compassion, and the ability to reassure others in some of their scariest moments are true gifts! So thank you! Thank you, Bren, for helping us through that time, and thank you, Children’s, for your wisdom when hiring, not only looking for people who have the job skills, but also the people skills. I run a team of 26 at my job, and I tell them all, I can teach you how to work here, but I can't teach you how to care for people. It has to be a blessing you are given.