Labor & Delivery Nurse Reva Martin Honored with Willow Award
| After losing two babies in two years, Dylan and Skye Billingsley returned to UAMS on Dec. 6 to surprise and thank the nurse who helped them to emotionally survive those experiences.
Along with NICU and Labor & Delivery nurses, presenters and onlookers, the Billingsley’s watched as Reva Martin, RN, Clinical Specialist received the Willow Award for which they had nominated her.
Sponsored by Smith Family Funeral Homes and Tipton & Hurst, the Willow Award recognizes end-of-life caregivers in central Arkansas who provided exceptional care in someone’s end-of-life journey.
“I am completely blown away, completely,” Martin said. “I had no idea this was happening. As a nurse, you serve all day every day. Sometimes you get an immediate gratification, and sometimes you go home wondering if you did any good that day or made a difference. Something like this, this is just really special. It’s not something I will forget.”
Residents of Cabot, the Billingsley’s are the parents of two healthy children. In November 2021, they were expecting a third when they learned their daughter, Charlotte, had died in utero. Reeling from the devastating news, the couple came to UAMS to deliver the baby.
“A floor nurse at the time with a full plate, Reva became a light in pure darkness,” Dylan Billingsley wrote in their nomination letter. “She laughed with us, cried with us and even gave us the opportunity to celebrate a birthday. Reva bathed her, dressed her, made matching bracelets, created a molly bear, placed an order for a poppy plate and was so adamant about singing happy birthday. That’s just what we did.”
Two years later and 12 weeks into another pregnancy — this time with a boy, Camden — the couple returned to UAMS for an ultrasound examination.
“Only there was a familiar feeling looming in the air as though deja vu was setting in,” Dylan Billingsley wrote. “There was no heartbeat. The emotional crash from almost two years ago was flooding back.” A dilation and curettage (D&C) was scheduled. A D&C is a surgical procedure to remove a fetus or tissue from the uterus.
Although no longer a floor nurse, Martin was still working in Labor & Delivery and offered her support to the Billingsleys. “Reva made herself 100% available for our, yet again, grieving family,” Dylan Billingsley said. “The process, unlike the first one, was a bit different in the sense that we would not get a chance to hold our sweet baby boy, Camden. The loss and sadness still remained.”
Billingsley said Martin was there almost the entirety of their stay. She helped before the procedure, went into the procedure to hold Skye Billingsley’s hand, and came back with her to their room where she continued to care for the grieving mother.
A graduate of the UAMS College of Nursing, Martin has worked in UAMS Labor & Delivery for six years.
After the award presentation, Martin said it’s the personal connections she gets to make with patients that have sustained her professionally and personally. Parents who lose a baby are likely having one of the worst days of their lives, if not the very worst.
“Their plans are completely changing in a way they are not ready for,” Martin said. “And then there’s this nurse here saying, ‘It’s going to be OK’ and looking them in the eyes. They are holding hands with the family and crying with them. Our nurses get to make being scared and worried into something special. That’s an opportunity not every nurse gets to have. In Labor & Delivery, we get to do it every day.”
Skye Billingsley works as a cardiology medical assistant, and Dylan Billingsley is an LPN. Working in health care and being aware of many of the challenges that nurses face has made them appreciate and value Martin all the more, they said.
“Every time she came in the room, it felt like we were her only patients,” Skye Billingsley said. “We knew we weren’t. She took her time with us, listened, did what needed to be done and never showed any emotions in a negative way. Everything she did was positive.”
Preventive safety procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic required Martin to don full personal protective equipment (PPE) whenever she entered the room. Dylan Billingsley said even if their request was relatively minor, Martin didn’t hesitate to go through the sometime laborious process of putting on the PPE to enter the room and fulfill the request.
Jodie McGinley, right, reads the Willow Award nomination letter to Reva Martin, left, just after surprising her with the news. The Billingsleys (center) nominated Martin.
“The nursing team I work with is the best,” Martin said. “They climb impossible mountains every day, and they do it with a smile. Seeing the patient reports and the cards is really validating because someone else is seeing the value in them that I see. They do the impossible every day.”