Cristina was the nurse assigned to my mother in the Cardiac Recovery Unit. My mom was not doing well and in a lot of pain. I went to the nurses' station and Cristina told me she was my mom's nurse and would be right there. She came immediately and saw she was in extreme pain. She spoke with her doctor and got a prescription for pain meds. During this time my mom got worse – she had a considerable drop in her blood pressure. Cristina was very calm and got in touch with her doctor without alarming us.

As soon as her doctor arrived it was clear there was a problem and I and my dad were asked to return to the waiting room. This was all very scary for us. Next, we heard a "Rapid Response" called over the loudspeaker for my mom's bed number. Within a few minutes, Christina came to the waiting room to explain to us what was going on. She was very calming and answered all our questions.

Approximately 2 hours later my mom was out of emergency surgery and was taken to the Cardiac ICU. We were told by one of the surgical nurses to go to the 2nd floor ICU surgery waiting room and the doctor would come and talk to us about what had happened. While there, Cristina came down to let us know what was going on. She was a wonderful nurse and made the whole traumatic experience bearable. She even went back to ICU when her shift ended to see how my mom was doing. My whole family thanks her for her compassion and calmness and quick response – we believe she helped save my mom. And, we think she rocks!