I noticed that a patient in our department was one of my close family friends. I did not want to just walk into her room and potentially make her feel uncomfortable, as she had not told me that she was in the hospital, and I am sure she would be very shocked to see me just walk in. I found Jonna McDermed, someone I had never met or worked with before, and asked if she would be able to check in with my friend about me being able to go in and see her and her family. I immediately could just sense that Jonna was extremely kind and caring. I was able to go and speak with my friend and be a support for her family. After I left to give her time to rest, I struggled. This friend is so kind, and it was so sad to see someone who would do anything for anyone else lose a baby she was so excited to have.

That night, I could tell Jonna was struggling as well. She cared so deeply for her patient; she grieved for a patient and family she had barely known at all. I knew that night that there could not have been a better nurse for my friend to have. Jonna treated her every need that she could possibly have had. My friend delivered her baby that night at around 3 or 4 in the morning. After speaking to the nurses who were in there with Jonna, I knew Jonna was a special kind of nurse. The other nurses described it as an experience they had never had before because of the connection Jonna had with the patient through such a difficult time in their life. I have been around OB for my entire life, and I truly have not seen a nurse that empathetic for their patient. Jonna and I had never talked before this night, and before we left, we hugged and cried together for the loss of an amazing person.

After that night, Jonna messaged me to check in on me several times. A week or two after the delivery, I was messaging the couple and had planned on visiting them to drop off gifts from the unit for the couple and to check in on them. I invited Jonna to go with me, and we met at their home. Jonna is truly one of a kind, and I don't think I could have provided the kind of comfort that Jonna brought to them. It was Jonna's first-ever delivery of a demise, and she was constantly trying to find ways to provide comfort and care for the couple as well, and find ways to better herself to ensure any future families would have the best possible care she could provide.

Since then, Jonna and I have formed a strong connection. There have been multiple occasions when I have come into work just to see her and cry about anything in life I am struggling with. We cried several times together to comfort one another in the grief we felt deeply for my friend and her baby. Death is part of working in a hospital; it happens everywhere. But Jonna is truly unique in the way she connects with the patient on such a deep level and feels the grief as well. She and I have developed a connection that I can't explain. She has gone above and beyond with every patient I've seen her work with. When talking with the couple about it, they speak highly of Jonna in particular for her effort in making the experience the best it possibly could be under the circumstances.

My friend had a saying that "chocolate heals everything," and since then, Jonna and I have exchanged chocolates, hoping each time it will slowly heal whatever we may be struggling with.