Moji was my night nurse (7 PM to 7 AM) for three nights last week while I was an inpatient in the Medical Surgical Unit. I had been admitted for shortness of breath and passing out, and the challenge was to diagnose what could easily be a heart problem or something else.

It may or may not be normal for one's fears to be heightened at night, but that was what happened in my case. I was very fearful of what was happening and when the puzzle would be figured out and a cause determined.

My emotions were also complicated because my amazing husband of 57 years died in March, after having spent some time there in Wilmington Hospital this late winter and spring. The sights and sounds of the hospital seemed to heighten my sadness and my grief, especially when I was unable to sleep.

Moji has a quiet, mature, no-nonsense approach to patient care. She attended to my needs (bed alarm, disabling and reattaching the compression "things" on my legs, helping me to the bathroom) with patience and compassion.

She heard my grief. She listened with kindness, and that seemed to increase her patience.

On one night, she had a tech for the second half of one of the nights who had a minimum of energy and had to attend to some of the tasks that the tech should have done. She was actually the only nurse who would straighten out my blankets and have the bed looking ready when I returned from the bathroom.

And she was busy, because there were several admissions during the nights I was there. But my call button was answered promptly and with kindness.

She has got a lot of years with you, I believe 18, and is unassuming and would probably never call attention to herself. But she deserves the attention that her extraordinary care exemplified.