First and foremost, Melissa is an OUTSTANDING and compassionate nurse on any normal day of the week. She has a naturally sweet disposition and is an extremely caring person, in general. She was born to be a nurse.
Labor and Delivery is mostly a lovely and joyous unit. We get to experience the miracle of birth every day. Unfortunately, some days aren't lovely and joyous. Melissa had a patient that was experiencing reduced fetal movement. After further testing, it was determined that the baby had expired in utero. This, obviously, was beyond devastating news to the patient and the patient's family. Melissa is the most caring, compassionate, empathetic and loving nurse I have ever witnessed in my life. She cried with the family. She consoled the family. She held the family. She grieved with the family. She took that patient home with her in her heart that night and sat on her nursery floor holding her own precious newborn and sobbed for hours. This is what it looks like to be a nurse. Melissa had a few days off after that shift and when she returned she mailed her patient the most beautiful card. She was still emotional but knew she had other patients to care for that day. I hugged her and told her she was a blessing to this patient and to MCW.
The patient contacted our unit a week later and asked to speak to Melissa's supervisor. A few days later, Melissa received a letter from that patient delivered to MCW L&D. Melissa cried reading her patient's letter and carried it around in her pocket all day. She didn't reveal what was in that precious letter, but she held it close to her all day. She cherished that letter because she knew she would be bonded to that patient for life. I'm actually getting emotional writing this nomination thinking about how she looked when she was holding that letter. Melissa is the definition of a DAISY Nurse.