Jennifer Roberts, RN, was honored with the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses at Sarah Bush Lincoln recently. Roberts was nominated for her compassion, understanding and empathy. Her nominator wrote in part:
“My father and I have been navigating (or attempting to navigate) the care of my grandfather. He has been in the nursing home for 100 days, and as a family we were ready to bring him home. In this process we felt extremely alone, unknowledgeable and worried that we would decide upon the wrong type of care. We were given no guidance and instead, left confused and worried from day to day. And then we met Jen Roberts. From the moment she met my father and grandfather, she was understanding, compassionate and extremely helpful. She understood my father and grandfather’s relationship and what our family needed. She had faith in our family and the care and love we could give my grandfather. While she had difficult information to give us, she gave it with compassion and empathy. It was very apparent that she cared and we were not just the next family on her to-do list. She took extra time to be with us and went above and beyond to make sure all of our questions were answered. She was extremely helpful when it came to guiding us in the direction of care my grandfather needed. While the word ‘Hospice’ is scary, after meeting with Jen we felt comforted in knowing we were headed in the right direction. Jen didn’t have to do any of this since really her department is Palliative Care, but she did and we are so thankful for her. Jen is an excellent nurse and beyond that and amazing person. Our family is very grateful!”