Mekayla had a patient who had a terminal diagnosis, and options for treatment were limited by the patient's ICU admission. She called around many units to find a trained nurse willing to start a specific treatment for this patient. When she was unable to get anyone to agree to do this, she escalated the issue, showing extreme compassion and advocacy for her patient, even as others had seemingly written them off. The patient was able to start their treatment in their ICU room.

Following the start of his treatment, Mekayla continued to go above and beyond for this patient by ordering them food from off-site restaurants and making their stay as comfortable and pleasant as possible. She is a nurse in many roles who consistently goes above and beyond and rarely receives any real recognition for everything she does for her patients.

Mekayla recently cared for a patient facing a devastating new cancer diagnosis and an incredibly poor prognosis. While the patient was waiting for a transfer to a specialized hospital, his care was delayed. The life-saving chemotherapy he urgently needed could not be administered due to staffing constraints. While others might have accepted these unavoidable barriers as inevitable or viewed the patient’s poor prognosis as a reason to give up, Mekayla refused to write him off.

Acting as an incredible advocate, she initiated a complex coordination effort, communicating with physicians, case management, pharmacy, and nursing leadership to bypass the red tape and secure the necessary treatment. Mekayla treats her patients with the same urgency she would her own family; her refusal to settle for “no” provided this patient with a fighting chance when others had already given up.