My father-in-law was diagnosed with pancreatic and bladder cancer, and we came to Hackensack for surgery to remove the one in the bladder. After the surgery, Jen was the first nurse we had, and she was the easiest person to work with, so understanding and gentle, while we had just had the wildest 24 hours I can think of in my life. Between different cancer diagnoses and treatment options, we were overwhelmed and stressed once he finished the surgery (still needing to handle the pancreas one).

For the entire shift, Jen was always so positive, informative, understanding, and doing things that I know were not part of the job description, just to make sure we were comfortable and in the know. She checked in on my father-in-law consistently, and we actually felt peace when working with her. The consummate professional in her job as well, when her shifts were done for the week, she thanked us for everything, as if she hadn’t been the one to care for us the last 3 days.

A week later, we were still in the hospital waiting for the bladder to heal, and she’s the one who discharged us. She was always ready to share all the details, answer any and all questions (even if they didn’t make sense or were things she was going to cover later), and make sure we left with all of the information we’d need to feel comfortable and ready to take the next steps. She even set up appointments for us with our other doctors for the follow-ups. I can’t say enough about how awesome Jen was.