I met Stephanie after my open-heart surgery. She was my day nurse for two days of the in-hospital recovery. I also saw her in the unit on other days. She got me up and walking right away and asked me what I was interested in. I told her and asked her back.

I found out she has been speaking American Sign Language for 25 years. She was a shy child, and it gave her a way to communicate without using her words. She also loves to ride her bicycle out of town on Coburg Road and take long bike rides through the countryside. She said it makes her feel like she is flying!

I like how Stephanie motivated me to recover. She pushed me to walk more in a kind way. She gave me motivation because of the motivation I saw in her. She was always moving, busy getting jobs done and helping people in her athletic and thoughtful way. I got the sense that she might have been in charge of this area because of all the things she did!

Even though Stephanie worked 100% all the time, she was still super organized, and she helped me to be organized as well. She drew daily check boxes of the things I needed to do on the blackboard in front of me (like a good teacher) and checked them off when I did my breathing exercises and my walks.

There was one time I returned from a walk and didn’t make it to the pee container in time. I made quite a mess and was very embarrassed, but Stephanie didn’t make me feel bad. She just cleaned the entire mess up, changed my clothes, and told me it was a good thing I didn’t try to run to the bathroom and slip and fall. She said it happens to people all the time. I had lots of really great nurses in my state. Stephanie was the best! 

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Stephanie, on two occasions, has walked me through my mom's recovery. She did things for mom that no one else thought to do. Bed baths with music, using her sense of humor, but also having empathy and understanding for us, and explaining everything. She is a true gem.