NEA Baptist’s recent DAISY Award winners showed amazing compassion to patients young and old, whether they needed minor treatment or were facing the end of their lives. Their nominators’ touching words are below.
Tina Jackson
Two people nominated 23-year Baptist ICU nurse Tina Jackson for a DAISY Award.
Her first nominator describes Tina as a wonderful nurse and an even better person. The nominator witnessed Tina performing small acts of kindness that made her patients feel more human.
“She always has a smile on her face and always lifts her patients’ spirits. She is fantastic!,” her first nominator wrote.
Tina’s interactions with a non-verbal patient stood out to her second nominator. Tina played, laughed and talked with the patient most of the night and made him feel comfortable in an unfamiliar place. The patient eventually started saying “hi” and clapping his hands when Tina came around, even though he speaks very few words.
“Mrs. Tina has done so much for him,” her second nominator wrote. “I cannot list all the good deeds, and she expressed so much kindness around him.”
Jack Magallanes
Emergency department nurse Jack Magallanes won a DAISY Award for taking special care with an 11-year-old patient with autism who lost his father to a massive heart attack last year. He needed a penicillin shot because he had the flu, but “he didn’t want to go to the hospital that took his Daddy.”
Jack helped administer the antibiotic and calmed down the patient by talking about Superman—his father’s favorite superhero.
The next morning, the patient told his mother how much he loved Jack because – like his father – he liked Superman.
Whitley Gooch
The family of a 92-year-old patient nominated Whitley Gooch, an ICU nurse, for a DAISY award for her actions during the final night of the patient’s life. The nominator praised Whitley for her professionalism, knowledge and genuine compassion in explaining how the patient’s body was shutting down. At one point in the middle of the night when they had to make some medicine decisions, Whitley shared her experience with caring for a family member in the hospital after a stroke.
“So Whitley, we just want you to know that you were the perfect Angel for our family that final night with our amazing dad,” Whitley’s nominator wrote. “I’m sure you have touched so many other lives, just like you did ours. You are one amazing nurse and caregiver. Don’t you ever stop! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”
Chris Sears
A co-worker nominated Chris Sears, an ICU nurse, for a DAISY Award for ensuring a patient did not spend his last minutes on Earth alone. Chris sat next to the patient and held his hand until he passed away.
“He was going to comfort his patient and hold his hand until the last second,” Chris’ nominator wrote. “In all his work, he goes above and beyond for his patients, and I think it’s so amazing.”
