Nomination by ashleigh
Jess - ACT
Our family would like to nominate Jess Radovanovic, a neonatal nurse at the Centenary Hospital for Women and Children at The Canberra Hospital for this award. Jess cared for our beautiful identical twin boys, Oscar and Alfie, during our extended NICU stay spanning five months. Jess is a nurse who touched all of our lives in many ways and our family is incredibly fond of her (including Oscar and Alfie's grandmother who also spent lots of time at the hospital with us!).
Not only is Jess a highly skilled nurse with excellent technical expertise, she is compassionate, dedicated, supportive, inclusive and is an exceptional communicator with families. We always felt her positive energy and reassured when we walked into the NICU room knowing she was caring for Oscar and Alfie. She took the time to get to know them, advocated for them, had a caring approach, and was always calm.
I think she was the nurse who really made me feel like a mum, rather than a visitor, and built our confidence as new parents. Jess always ensured we were as involved in Oscar and Alfie's care as we could be - planning 'cares' times around our schedule, making sure we had cuddles each day, and was there for us when we needed to cry, laugh or talk about how difficult the NICU was. One of her best assets is that she can translate medical concepts to parents in a way that is easy to understand.
She made sure we had some precious twin cuddles that we will cherish forever. We will forever be reminded of Jess as she appears in many of our favourite photos with our boys (or her hand/arm makes an appearance!) as she always made sure we captured moments on our cameras. Oscar and us love seeing Jess now outside of the NICU and keeping in touch. Jess will always hold a special place in our hearts.
Nomination by Sara
Brad - ACT
Brad was one of the first nurses that worked with Riv. He was always so kind and caring. Brad showed & explained to us everything that Riv had attached to her and what it was for. We had a scary moment when Riv was still intubated and she started coughing because the “tubing” was moving during a cuddle. Brad calmly explained that we needed to put her back in the isolette, that she was ok and her numbers were ok, but her “tubes” needed to be readjusted. I left the room while they sorted her out and Brad called me back in once done. The next day I was so scared to cuddle but Brad pushed me to in the most caring and reassuring way. So grateful for his expertise, compassion, kindness & care for us and our little girl during our NICU journey.
nomination by sara
Georgia - ACT
Georgia was absolutely amazing during our NICU journey! She cared so beautifully for our Rivah-Skye. Made many beautiful hand& footprints for us. Georgia always made us feel like Riv was in safe caring hands if we weren’t there. She would Always pop past and visit if she hadn’t seen us for a while. Georgia works in the NICU at the Centenary Women’s & Childrends Hospital in Canberra.
