I had a surprise of the lifetime after my meeting today... I was presented with a Daisy Award. Here is a little about it...
DAISY is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System. The Foundation was formed in November, 1999, by the family of J. Patrick Barnes who died at age 33 of complications of Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP). As we brainstormed what to do in Pat's memory, the one really positive thing we could hold onto from the experience of his eight-week hospitalization was the skillful and amazingly compassionate care he received from his nurses - even when he was totally sedated. When Pat died, we felt compelled to express our profound gratitude to nurses for the work they do for patients and their families every day. This is the primary mission of The DAISY Foundation.
We say thank you to the nursing profession in three ways:
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| I absolutely can't stand the look on my face in this picture but I thought you might want to see my expression as I walked into a room full of my peers, family and friends. |
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| Another one of the people in attendance was Kelly Johnson, the Chief Nursing Officer of Children's. |
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| My brothers, my boys, my brother in law Garret and of course my amazing, supportive husband were there. |
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| Along with Brooke, my Aunt Sherri, Ail, my mom, my grandma and one of my very best friends, Laura (or Ling as I refer to her as!) |
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| This is Chris Griffin, she is the person that nominated me for the award. She is the leader on a committee I am a part of. She specifically referred to a moment I shared with a mother of a patient when I showed her how to make tea in one of our fancy machines. Not part of being a nurse but this gesture meant so much to her this mom embraced me in a tearful hug. Chris used this as an example of how nursing can go beyond administering medications and performing assessments, it's taking care of the whole patient, which involves taking care of the families too. |
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| This is Kelly presenting me with the award. |
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| This is the trophy that goes along with the award. It's really cool because it looks like a nurse and a pediatric patient and it's produced in a very small international town that does not have a steady revenue. Making these statues has given them a sustainable form of income and really helped the economy for them. |
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| This is the banner that was hanging on my unit for everyone to see. They leave it up for three months. |
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| The photographer asked to take a picture of Kelly and I, of course Chasey wanted to get in on that photo too! |
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| I wish there was a picture of the other side of the room, my Aunt Sue and mother in law Diane were also in attendance, sit was so amazingly nice of everyone to come all the way to Children's to support me. I felt so incredibly loved. |
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| After the surprise Jason took me and the boys to my favorite restaurant, Hapa Sushi. Colby loved the noodles! |
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| No sushi for this kid! |
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| Mmmmm, delicious. |
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| My amazing family. I've really struggled this year finding the balance between home and work, being a wife, a mom, a nurse, always feeling like I'm not giving to my full potential in one aspect of my life because I'm pulled in so many directions. This award really reassured me that I'm doing a good job. It felt so incredible and is a day I will never forget. Again I want to thank everyone who took time out of their busy schedules to be there for me that day. It meant more than you'll ever know. |
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| These are the beautiful daisies that Aunt Sue and Diane gave to me. |
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| I had to take tons of pictures, it was one of the most beautiful flower arrangements I've ever seen. |
