Emily Costa
November 2025
Emily
Costa
,
BSN, RN, CCRN
Texas Children's Hospital
Houston
,
TX
United States
Her consistent presence, eager spirit, and calm demeanor helped ensure a successful outcome and, most importantly, supported this family through the most difficult days of their lives.
Emily Costa has consistently been an advocate for her patients. She stands out due to her passion for caring for critically ill and injured children.
In this particular instance, Emily went above and beyond the call for a family who was experiencing a life-altering event. Two of the family's children were critically injured after being involved in a car accident. Initially, only one of the children was at our hospital. When the family was given the news that both children's prognosis was poor, Emily showed compassion and love.
She helped orchestrate the transfer so that both siblings could be together. She comforted the family and suggested the possibility of donation. She stayed late, came in early, asked questions, and was instrumental in allowing the family to honor their children's lives through organ donation. She is truly an asset to our team and to our patients.
See below for comments from Emily's colleagues:
"Emily was an amazing advocate for her patient and their family. She took amazing care of the patient and their whole family. She advocated for the family's needs as conversations became difficult. She built a relationship with the patient's parents quickly, and they immediately trusted her.
She hardly ever left the patient's room, only coming out for a sip of water or a quick snack. The situation was so terrible, and the family was heartbroken, but Emily went out of her way to make it bearable.
She had the family and their friends laughing with her quick wit and jokes. She charted in the patient's room while keeping the conversation going with the family to learn more about the patient. She quickly found out his favorite things and what he liked to do so she could decorate his room.
She stayed late past her shift to help with bath time and make it extra special. She had the whole family doing "spa day" with face masks, manicures, and music, of course. She worked with LifeGift coordinators to coordinate the Walk of Life for both patients. Emily came to work early to help organize the walk. Emily picked up overtime to maintain consistency with nursing.
We are lucky to have Emily as a trauma nurse in the PICU. She is a great example of an outstanding nurse who truly makes a difference in her patients' lives."
***
"There are literally so many ways to thank Emily for all her assistance with the two donors at TCH last week, and she is one of the main reasons the whole experience went so well for the family, healthcare team, and LifeGift team.
She was the one who advocated with the healthcare team for the referral to be made to LifeGift on Friday, as the patient was ABD and the family mentioned possible withdrawal.
She assisted our family engagement specialists when they arrived to speak to the family and provided information on family dynamics, as well as supported them while they talked to the parents about the potential donation opportunity.
She also asked questions about the process so she could better understand it and provide support when able. She picked up multiple shifts in the coming days and took care of the patient to support him and his family until WOLST and organ recovery on Tuesday.
Her consistent presence, eager spirit, and calm demeanor helped ensure a successful outcome and, most importantly, supported this family through the most difficult days of their lives. Emily constantly asked questions to ensure she understood the organ donation and DCD process and supported our clinical teams while on-site doing donor management.
Emily also advocated for this family and supported them during the beautiful Honor Walk on Tuesday, as well as read a letter written by a family member during the Honor Walk.
Throughout the week, she also supported the LifeGift team—our clinical specialists, family engagement team, and me—ensuring we were all on the same page and assisting in whatever way she could.
She was a huge reason that the entire process last week was so seamless and allowed the family to have the opportunity for the gift of donation and see something good come out of such a tragic event.
The patient was able to save three lives through the gift of organ donation and give the gift of sight through tissue donation.
Thank you, Emily, for being such amazing support and a donor champion throughout the process. We couldn't have done this without you!
****
We wanted to highlight these main points regarding Emily Costa's overwhelming compassion for those two patients:
In this particular instance, Emily went above and beyond the call for a family who was experiencing a life-altering event. Two of the family's children were critically injured after being involved in a car accident. Initially, only one of the children was at our hospital. When the family was given the news that both children's prognosis was poor, Emily showed compassion and love.
She helped orchestrate the transfer so that both siblings could be together. She comforted the family and suggested the possibility of donation. She stayed late, came in early, asked questions, and was instrumental in allowing the family to honor their children's lives through organ donation. She is truly an asset to our team and to our patients.
See below for comments from Emily's colleagues:
"Emily was an amazing advocate for her patient and their family. She took amazing care of the patient and their whole family. She advocated for the family's needs as conversations became difficult. She built a relationship with the patient's parents quickly, and they immediately trusted her.
She hardly ever left the patient's room, only coming out for a sip of water or a quick snack. The situation was so terrible, and the family was heartbroken, but Emily went out of her way to make it bearable.
She had the family and their friends laughing with her quick wit and jokes. She charted in the patient's room while keeping the conversation going with the family to learn more about the patient. She quickly found out his favorite things and what he liked to do so she could decorate his room.
She stayed late past her shift to help with bath time and make it extra special. She had the whole family doing "spa day" with face masks, manicures, and music, of course. She worked with LifeGift coordinators to coordinate the Walk of Life for both patients. Emily came to work early to help organize the walk. Emily picked up overtime to maintain consistency with nursing.
We are lucky to have Emily as a trauma nurse in the PICU. She is a great example of an outstanding nurse who truly makes a difference in her patients' lives."
***
"There are literally so many ways to thank Emily for all her assistance with the two donors at TCH last week, and she is one of the main reasons the whole experience went so well for the family, healthcare team, and LifeGift team.
She was the one who advocated with the healthcare team for the referral to be made to LifeGift on Friday, as the patient was ABD and the family mentioned possible withdrawal.
She assisted our family engagement specialists when they arrived to speak to the family and provided information on family dynamics, as well as supported them while they talked to the parents about the potential donation opportunity.
She also asked questions about the process so she could better understand it and provide support when able. She picked up multiple shifts in the coming days and took care of the patient to support him and his family until WOLST and organ recovery on Tuesday.
Her consistent presence, eager spirit, and calm demeanor helped ensure a successful outcome and, most importantly, supported this family through the most difficult days of their lives. Emily constantly asked questions to ensure she understood the organ donation and DCD process and supported our clinical teams while on-site doing donor management.
Emily also advocated for this family and supported them during the beautiful Honor Walk on Tuesday, as well as read a letter written by a family member during the Honor Walk.
Throughout the week, she also supported the LifeGift team—our clinical specialists, family engagement team, and me—ensuring we were all on the same page and assisting in whatever way she could.
She was a huge reason that the entire process last week was so seamless and allowed the family to have the opportunity for the gift of donation and see something good come out of such a tragic event.
The patient was able to save three lives through the gift of organ donation and give the gift of sight through tissue donation.
Thank you, Emily, for being such amazing support and a donor champion throughout the process. We couldn't have done this without you!
****
We wanted to highlight these main points regarding Emily Costa's overwhelming compassion for those two patients:
- Worked six days straight and picked up overtime to ensure continuity for the patient and family.
- Stayed late to bathe and provide really personal and meaningful care that is outside of critical care.
- She was the only person to mention LifeGift after the attending only discussed WOLST.
- She promptly called LifeGift upon learning of his terminal injuries.
- Provided personalized items to cater to each child's individual interests.
- Read a passage at his Honor Walk for the family.
- This was her first DCD, and she ensured she understood the process.
- Went with her patient to the OR for organ recovery.
- After such a difficult shift, stayed to support the unit.