Grace Roelant, RN

I brought my husband of 53 years into the ER on Sunday at about 1:00 am. He's had three heart attacks since 1997; he was 45. He was having severe chest pains, and the ER was on it. Once they ruled out a heart attack, the 9:00 am doctor said A could have breakfast. He's a diabetic. It never came. We requested it again. It never came. So, by then we figured they were just going to bring lunch. It never came. Well, it did come at 2:00 pm just as they were transporting A to the fourth floor. By then, it had been a truly worrisome and frustrating day. We knew something was wrong, but not what.

Grace was the first person we met that really listened. First, she went to the kitchen, found a mess-up, and got him food. It doesn't seem like much, but after 13 hours, it felt above and beyond because she really did it.

Then she came back and explained everything really loud and clear—A's deaf—with a smile in her voice. Came back often, always with a smile. You can tell she's not just in it for the job. If I ever have to come here for three days, I pray we get her. In passing, I heard her talking to the guy next door, reassuring him that he'd be fine. So, I know it's not just us who appreciate her.

Grace deserves to know her patients and hospital staff appreciate her.