When a teenage boy, who lived in the rural part of Texas, needed infusions, Adele from BrightStar Care of Plano didn’t hesitate to raise her hand to provide care. Because of where he lived and the type of medication he needed; the family struggled to find an agency that would be able to help... until Adele. It was her mission to make sure the boy was cared for and could spend the holidays at home with his family instead of at the hospital, even if it meant she would have to drive two hours each way for her shift. And her hard work paid off. After 6 weeks, he had a clear chest x-ray and was able to finish his treatments.

Nomination Letter

Written by Jennah Helal, RN Director of Nursing, BrightStar Care of Plano & North Dallas / Far North Dallas

Adele is one in a million. She's my rock; my co-pilot; my sounding board. Sometimes she's my filter and my sanity, especially on those days when she takes it upon herself to act as the buffer between me and everyone else in the world who needs just 10 minutes of the precious time, I try to spread out to more people than there are hours in the day.

But I'm not nominating her for the amazing job she does day in and day out as my ADON - though heaven knows that in itself is more than enough! I'm nominating her because she is also an amazing nurse and an even more amazing human being. I'm nominating her for a teenage boy in rural Texas who was down on his luck and needed someone to fight for him. He didn't know what he was getting when he got Adele.

This young man had all the cards stacked against him - a cancer diagnosis, abnormal CT scans, immunosuppression, insanely abnormal labs, and a fungal pneumonia that wouldn't release its grip. He spent Thanksgiving in the hospital, and Christmas was looming on the horizon. All he wanted was to spend the holidays home with his family, but daily infusions of Amphotericin and frequent labs were the only course of action. But rural in Texas is quite an obstacle at times, and his chances of going home on daily nursing infusions for a full month over the holidays looked slim. Until an angel named Adele decided that he had been in the hospital long enough and made it her personal mission to help him and his family get home for Christmas.

Adele left the office every day at 5 pm and drove 2 hours into deep rural Texas, infused this young man for 4 hours, then drove 2 hours home every single day for a full month, not resting her head until well after midnight or 1 am every morning. She didn't miss Christmas Day, or New Year's, or even Mondays for that matter. She was as reliable as the postman, with the kind of compassion only a nurse can show. She followed frequent lab draws and results, encouraged the family, and celebrated with them when he finally got a clear chest CT.

No matter how tired we all knew she was that whole month, she came into the office every morning with a smile on her face and her can-do attitude. Nothing sidetracked her from her mission of mercy, and nothing dimmed her sparkle along the way. Adele is my hero, and that family's too, and the world is a kinder place with her in it. I am so very blessed to be able to sit next to such a phenomenal nurse, woman, and friend every day

Adele Garcia, MSN, BSN, RN

Nomination Letter