Jaci Schnakenberg
July 2025
Jaci
Schnakenberg
,
BSN, RN
Cardiovascular Surgery
Nebraska Methodist Hospital and Women's Hospital
Omaha
,
NE
United States
Jaci not only demonstrated compassion, empathy, and respect towards our son, she never ceased from creating new ways to ease his fears.
Our son, who is a young adult with special needs, was hospitalized for the first time ever in his adult life with a life-threatening illness. He is a nonverbal autistic individual and exhibits a great fear of doctors/medical settings. He is extremely fearful of needles and to date at the age of 33 has never been able to be poked with a needle while awake.
Our son spent 5 days in the hospital, which was one of the worst experiences of his life. However, there was one special angel, named Jaci (his nurse for 3 nights in a row), who went above and beyond in taking extra time learning how to communicate with our son. We explained to Jaci that he was terrified of a hospital setting, and while his expressive skills were low, his cognitive skills were a bit higher. This didn't seem to bother her, and we could tell by her actions towards our son that Jaci was genuine in her care with our son.
Even though our son had an IV line for drawing labs and administering medication, our son didn't quite understand that the syringes filled with saline and medications were not going to hurt him. Jaci immediately sensed his fear and began playing with him, showing him it was only water and no pokes; she even distracted him with her little finger magic tricks prior to touching the lines. This was huge in building a trusting relationship with our son and comforting him to the point that she made the day nurses' jobs easier because she had worked out a routine with our son for taking vitals, drawing lab, or giving medication through the IV. Jaci even instructed the nurses as to what works best in calming and working with our son.
We understand that the Special Needs community is not the normal patients seen on the cardiac floor, and there is a lot to be learned about working with these individuals; however, Jaci to date is the first nurse/medical individual we have met that didn't allow our son's diagnosis to define him as a person. Jaci had the ability to treat him as an individual who deserved her best care and saw beyond his Autism diagnosis. She understood immediately people no matter their age, circumstances or medical situation deserved to be treated as an individual and not with the mentality of "what works for one works for all."
Jaci not only demonstrated compassion, empathy, and respect towards our son, she never ceased from creating new ways to ease his fears. This is truly "The Meaning of Care". It should be noted that while our son's name means Gift from God, we can't help but feel as if Jaci was his gift from God during this difficult time for him.
Our son spent 5 days in the hospital, which was one of the worst experiences of his life. However, there was one special angel, named Jaci (his nurse for 3 nights in a row), who went above and beyond in taking extra time learning how to communicate with our son. We explained to Jaci that he was terrified of a hospital setting, and while his expressive skills were low, his cognitive skills were a bit higher. This didn't seem to bother her, and we could tell by her actions towards our son that Jaci was genuine in her care with our son.
Even though our son had an IV line for drawing labs and administering medication, our son didn't quite understand that the syringes filled with saline and medications were not going to hurt him. Jaci immediately sensed his fear and began playing with him, showing him it was only water and no pokes; she even distracted him with her little finger magic tricks prior to touching the lines. This was huge in building a trusting relationship with our son and comforting him to the point that she made the day nurses' jobs easier because she had worked out a routine with our son for taking vitals, drawing lab, or giving medication through the IV. Jaci even instructed the nurses as to what works best in calming and working with our son.
We understand that the Special Needs community is not the normal patients seen on the cardiac floor, and there is a lot to be learned about working with these individuals; however, Jaci to date is the first nurse/medical individual we have met that didn't allow our son's diagnosis to define him as a person. Jaci had the ability to treat him as an individual who deserved her best care and saw beyond his Autism diagnosis. She understood immediately people no matter their age, circumstances or medical situation deserved to be treated as an individual and not with the mentality of "what works for one works for all."
Jaci not only demonstrated compassion, empathy, and respect towards our son, she never ceased from creating new ways to ease his fears. This is truly "The Meaning of Care". It should be noted that while our son's name means Gift from God, we can't help but feel as if Jaci was his gift from God during this difficult time for him.