"Care in the ED & 5.3"

A few months ago I attended the Emergency Department at Box Hill Hospital with my newborn baby who had contracted RSV from my toddler. We had been in Box Hill in the days prior but after monitoring we were discharged as he seemed to be improving, however over two days his breathing deteriorated and we presented to ED Triage.

Right from the moment we spoke to the Triage Nurse we had such a positive experience, our concerns were taken seriously and we were immediately taken through to the Resus bays as he was clearly working hard to breathe. The nurse that looked after us here was named Caroline and I felt she was fantastic, not only was she attentive, professional and so very caring of our baby, but she was also like the mum I needed in this situation, very reassuring and attentive to my needs as a breastfeeding mother (straight away got me a breast pump as he wasn't feeding and made sure I had something to eat and drink). I'll forever be grateful for Caroline and her colleagues we saw, it's such a scary thing having your tiny baby so unwell and I felt she had so much empathy and compassion while doing her job as a nurse.

We were transferred to the paediatric ward where we remained for a couple of nights, and while all of the staff who looked after us there did a fantastic job, there was one nurse in particular who I really wanted to mention, her name was Grace and I believe it was the afternoon/evening of that day she was working (I recall she mentioned she didn't normally work on that ward so I'm not sure if she was just filling in). I felt Grace was fantastic, she was so supportive and attentive and advocated for our little man encouraging us to speak up about any concerns to the doctors and following through on absolutely everything. I'm not sure where Grace usually works, but I feel like she has a knack for Paeds and I'm very grateful she was there for us during our stay.

I know it's been quite a few months since this occurred, I meant to write earlier (took notes in my phone at the time) but life with a baby and a toddler is hectic at the best of times. I hope my thanks and gratitude can still be passed on to these team members, I believe they should know what a wonderful job they do, I'm sure some days are incredibly hard, but I feel their efforts do not go unnoticed, we are very appreciative.