In September 2018, Verna, Rob and sister Grace Dale welcomed a beautiful baby girl, Faith, at Mercy Hospital Southwest.
The delivery went well, and Rob dutifully left to get his wife a celebratory meal. At shift change,
Verna’s nurse Janet, RN, noted baby Faith was not very alert and had little interest in feeding. Faith also had bruising on her face, which can occur during delivery. Nurse Janet did a thorough assessment, and immediately activated the Neonatal Intensive Care team of nurses and a neonatologist upon discovering Faith had dangerously low blood oxygen levels.
Baby Faith was suffering from a rare, life threatening congenital condition called Transposition of the Great Arteries. In short, the two arteries that carry blood from the heart to the lungs and body were reversed. Within two hours, Faith was flown to Valley Children’s Hospital in Madera where the next morning she had a successful open heart surgery followed by a one month stay in the hospital.
Verna and Rob credit nurse Janet’s thorough, compassionate care with saving precious Faith‘s life. With deep appreciation, Rob and Verna asked Nurse Janet to be Faith’s Godmother, which Janet accepted humbly.
In October 2020, the Dale family welcomed Jeremiah at Mercy Southwest Hospital. Verna recalls that during such frightening times of the pandemic, the staff was incredible. “I’ve never experienced so much care and love… It was like my family was there with me.”
Finally, in August of this year, 2022, the Dale family welcomed yet another precious gift, baby Hope—
The legacy of the Dale family is woven in the fabric of the history of Mercy Hospitals of Bakersfield. Through times of great joy and great fear, we journeyed with them as we would our own family. We are honored to care for them and commit to providing them the most compassionate and excellent care for generations to come.