Peak Performer: Sophia Garza

Sophia is an excellent pediatric nurse. She has all of the characteristics that make a nurse a great pediatric nurse: patience, patience, patience, excellent critical thinking skills, attention to detail, positivity, and most importantly, the ability to have fun. I think the willingness to be playful with our patients is one of the most important qualities we can have. I am always impressed with her level of pediatric nursing knowledge and how she is able to talk to patients and families explaining things in a way that they can understand. I always feel like I learn from her when I work with her. Even when conversations are hard ones and involve topics such as noncompliance, she has the ability to talk to patients and families and get them to listen, being very straightforward but very kind. 

I had the pleasure of working with Sophia recently and witnessed what I believe was definitely going above and beyond. I will start by saying that the other nurse that works with her was on vacation and she had been managing the clinic by herself for over a week. She had lots of work to complete and had been staying late. We had a mom whose car overheated when they were leaving from an appointment. This was a mother with a 6-month-old and a toddler. As you can imagine, the mother was very stressed over the situation being alone with 2 little ones.

Sophia realized what was happening and went out and had the mom and kids come into the clinic to wait until the car cooled. Once the car cooled, while the mother tended to the car, Sophia offered to sit with the children so they weren’t out in the heat of the parking lot. She had so much work to complete but she was so patient and played with the children while they waited. The toddler seemed anxious that mom was out of sight at first but Sophia talked to her and reassured her that everything was ok and distracted her with play. 

She had the kids laughing and having fun until mom had the fluid topped off and was able to drive the car again. I realize this may seem small but when you are short-staffed and behind on work, this is huge to have taken this much time out of your day to help and she didn’t even give it a second thought. Besides helping, you could see that she just loved spending time with the kids. She was very patient and never seemed stressed about taking time away from her work. I honestly don’t think she ever even gave it a thought. I have no doubt that she does these type of things all the time as this is her nature. Little acts of kindness such as this can go a long way in reassuring our patients and families that we truly care and help us reach them on a more personal level. Sophia is a great nurse with a huge heart.