Shannon Jones
September 2015
Shannon
Jones
,
RN
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)
Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters
Norfolk
,
VA
United States

 

 

 

...Shannon took care of our premature infant son during his 200-day stay at CHKD. She spent time educating us about every little thing she did for our son. Every single time she touched him or a piece of equipment, she explained what she was doing. When our son became very sick, she immediately recognized the changes, worked with the doctors to adjust his care and updated us the whole time about what was happening. At one point, his heart rate dropped and even though I knew she was afraid, she remained extremely calm and addressed the problem. When I first arrived to the NICU that day, I had to wait outside. I was scared because they had never made us wait. Shannon knew I would be scared, so she came out at her first opportunity to tell us what was happening and keep us informed.

When the doctors decided our son needed urgent surgery, Shannon had another idea. The doctors gave her a ton of new urgent orders; however, Shannon knew we had never held our son and she decided that was her priority. She expertly moved all his tubes to one side, grabbed another nurse, scooped up our son and handed him to my husband saying 'it's time to hold your son'. We were both so shocked, but she had dad and son nestled in a chair before I could blink. She continued to prep our son for surgery while he was being held. Then she switched the baby to me and allowed me to 'kangaroo' for the first time.

As soon as she could step out when surgery was over, Shannon ran into the hallway to give me a huge hug and tell me he was okay. On one of the worst days of my life, Shannon pulled me and my husband through. As a Master's prepared RN, I have worked with and taught hundreds of nurses. No one has ever compared to the clinical expertise, love and compassion I experienced with Shannon, not only on this day, but every day she worked. She proved to be an expert caregiver, collaborator, excellent communicator, fierce advocate, and exceptional human being. She IS the DAISY Award!

...

Shannon is an incredibly compassionate nurse. She constantly looks for ways to include parents in the care of their baby no matter how sick the baby is - from including the mom and dad in a diaper change to giving them the opportunity to hold their baby before going for emergent surgery. She extends that same compassion to her co-workers - from being a preceptor for new graduate nurses to helping a pod mate who is overwhelmed. Shannon is what every NICU nurse should strive to be!