Lake Elsinore resident and nurse Charlie Smithson recently received the John L. Treadway Loving Care Award from the Visiting Nurses Association of the Inland Counties at a ceremony at the Riverside Convention Center.
The award was given for her extraordinary love and compassion, according to a statement from the VNA.
Smithson has worked four years as a nurse in the neonatal intensive care unit at Loma Linda University Medical Center in Loma Linda.
Nurse Charlie Smithson, of Lake Elsinore, recently received an Award from the Visiting Nurses Association. Joining her, are her mother Joan Lull and husband George Smithson.
One of her patients was a boy named Christian who was given up by his birth mother as a "safe surrender baby," the statement said.
Safe surrender means that mothers can take their babies to a hospital, or fire or police station with no questions asked.
The baby was born with anencephaly, a birth defect where a newborn's brain is incomplete. Most babies with that type of defect are not expected to live, Smithson said.
Smithson, her husband George, daughter Katie and mother Joan Lull made a mutual decision that they would like to provide Christian with a home, love, nurturing and comfort for his short time here on earth.
Smithson took a month off of work because the baby was in need of intensive care the first few weeks of life.
The entire family helped with the care of the baby.
They took shifts walking, rocking and soothing Christian, Smithson said.
"My daughter came up with a technique that Christian responded to called the "grumpy baby dance" which meant bouncing and cuddling," Smithson said.
After Smithson returned to work, her family took turns caring for the baby.
"The doctors were amazed that we were able to do so much for him," Smithson said.
One day shy of making it to five months old, Christian died.
"He was such a wonderful giving little boy and I have so much pride in my family for helping me care for the little angel that came into my life," Smithson said.
The Visiting Nurses Association, with an office in Murrieta, is a nonprofit charitable organization that provides home health and hospice services.
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