My wife was in the ICU, again, because of her interstitial lung disease. She was struggling mightily to breathe with even the slightest exertion. From minute one at the start of her shift, Brooke showed a level of excellence above the usual excellence we've come to expect and appreciate as we've made the rounds between the ICU, PCU, ER, and now MICU these last few weeks.

Brooke's attentiveness and anticipation of her needs were outstanding; she was even thoughtful enough to ask me if I wanted some hot tea. It was abundantly clear from the outset that Brooke had done her clinical homework to understand my wife's situation before she came into the room, and her competence, patience, and ability to explain, in layman's terms, all that she was doing while managing all of my wife's issues shone brightly. However, where Brooke really shone was during my wife's heart crisis yesterday.

She was the first to acknowledge my wife's lightheadedness as she tried to get my wife ready to get a chest scan, and she tried to get the respiratory therapist to pump up her high-flow oxygen unit. It was too late, and my wife experienced what was described as a "drastic fluid shift" and became unresponsive. Brooke demonstrated excellent leadership under fire as the team in the unit converged on the room, and she got them all up to speed on my wife's situation and enabled them to take appropriate measures to get her back.

The entire unit team was impressive as they worked through what was a very traumatic experience for me to watch. Once they felt secure the worst was over the nurse practitioner pulled me aside to explain where things were and then Brooke pulled me aside, gave me additional insight and then asked me to wait in the waiting room while they worked through the rest of the effort. As an epilogue, later, when all had settled down, and the chaplain happened through, Brooke sat in with us while he prayed for her. This was really touching for reasons I can't quite articulate.