Jill cared for me in the M-Health Fairview Ridges Emergency Department in Burnsville, Minnesota. Coming in that evening, I was several days post-surgery, having had a hysterectomy, endometriosis ablation, cystoscopy, and several components in a pelvic organ prolapse repair, including a mid-urethral sling. My urogynecological surgeon had requested I go in that night and be checked out to rule out a hematoma, as I was having both pain in and little use of my left leg.

In the month prior, I had had so many blood draws and IVs that the first Emergency nurse at my bedside that evening at Ridges was not able to find a suitable spot to place a needle. After her first attempt, she said another person would come in to try. Jill came in soon after, and immediately, I felt comfortable with her. Sitting beside me, studying my arm and wrist, she asked, “So, what brings you in tonight?” When I quietly told her the full list, she looked up and remarked, “Oh wow! That's a lot. I know that's a lot. You're doing so well.”

In that moment, the physical and emotional collided within me, and I burst into sobs and tears, not in pain, but because someone finally saw me, not as a body to do things to, stick things in, and test, poke, and prod, but as a real person who was dealing with a lot. She helped me let out emotions I did not even realize I was holding in. Jill connected with me in a way that the helpfulness and efficiency of prior nurses had not.

She then began to say things like, “Ohhhh, this is a lot! Let it out! It's okay. You're human.” She acknowledged emotions as a real part of me. My crying subsided to sniffles after a few moments in her care, and with a smile, she looked up and said, “Oh, you have such pretty blue eyes!” I was lying there still in a nightgown from home, my hair a mess, feeling awful, without any make-up on, sore in all the tender places, and super tired and emotional, and yet again, Jill brought out something no one had done in months of my receiving medical care. She saw the person before her as an actual person, not a case, a room number, or a medical chart. I looked awful, but she made me feel pretty.

 I believe Jill is the full package of highly skilled (she got my IV in quickly in a tough spot on the first try and used a helpful “trick” to distract me), emotionally intelligent, aware, able to “read the room,” and a prime example of what a nurse ought to be. We need more nurses like Jill.