Recent Upper Valley Medical Center DAISY Award Recipients: August 2019

Naomi Gallagher, RN, Behavioral Health

Naomi is the sort of person who is like a ray of sunshine when she enters the room. She exudes a sense of caring to her clients and staff in all she does. During “crisis events” that can be potentially dangerous and/or lead to threatening behavior, she can be seen compassionately talking with and soothing our patients. She is very skilled at being able to de-escalate an extremely agitated patient with verbal intervention, which is ultimately our goal. She has instructed in our CPI classes, thus sharing her knowledge and skills with others not only on our unit, but often in other facilities. She is a good mentor to our students and new nurses, giving them both knowledge and understanding of our clientele. It is refreshing to watch her interact with even our most agitated clients and see the compassion and skill with which she handles the situation. She is a team player and will often pitch in to help others without needing to be asked. She is well liked and respected by our physicians as well. She goes above and beyond, often helping out her colleagues by working extra days or hours for them when needed. She truly exemplifies how little things can make a difference: a touch, a smile, an ear to hear someone who needs to vent. She is not afraid to be persistent and advocate for our patients with both the doctor and other disciplines. Paying attention to the details is the name of the game in mental health, and Naomi is great at anticipating the emotional, psychological, and physical needs of our patients and their families. She has been noted giving some TLC to a guardian or family member or patient, or sometimes even peers. She is truly a nurse whom patients look forward to seeing daily and are pleased to work with. She is definitely the epitome of “Premier Proud.” UVMC is very lucky to have her, and we are lucky to have her as a co-worker and team member!

Sara Schulze, RN, Women's Services

Sara is a labor and delivery nurse as well as triage and postpartum nurse. She is an individual who always provides compassionate and extraordinary care to every one of her patients, which is why I would like to nominate her for the DAISY Award.

I am a newer nurse, and Sara is someone I really look up to and have learned from during my OB career so far. Sara is the kind of nurse that patients want to have when coming to the Women’s Services Unit. She is kind, professional, smart, and one of the most patient nurses you will ever meet. I have seen Sara encourage and motivate patients as they are about to bring their new baby into the world, never letting them give up. I have seen Sara respond to emergent cases and situations while keeping calm and acting quickly, and I have seen Sara empathize with mothers and families as they grieve over the loss of a baby. Sara has such a big heart and passion for her new patients and coworkers that can easily be seen even by people who don’t know her.

Sara is highly respected and liked by her coworkers. Being able to work alongside such a kind and smart nurse like her is a privilege. She wants to help everyone, and you will not find a better team player than her. Sara also picks up extra shifts and comes in to help the unit when we are understaffed or have a very high census. You will always find her giving 110 percent and going the extra mile. Sara is selfless and does not strive for recognition, but instead strives to provide the best patient care experience to each woman and baby she cares for. I recently worked with Sara on a night when her assignment was to care for a mother who had delivered a stillborn that was full term – a hard assignment for any nurse, even the most experienced. Sara cared for that patient so kindly and with so much compassion; she even had a special memory box brought in to give to the mother and father so that they had something to keep mementos in. Empathy is a quality that we are taught in nursing school is crucial to have, and Sara is someone who exemplifies this quality beautifully.

There are endless great things that could be said about Sara. She is truly an asset to the health care field and practices nursing with respect, integrity, compassion and the desire to make a difference each and every day. Sara goes above and beyond the expectation, and it is with great pleasure that I nominate her for the DAISY Award.

Abby Steinke Shields, RN, PCU

Abby always does a great job, but recently I ran into a situation that I was unable to fix, and she helped me out greatly. We had a young patient with alcoholism who was presenting with significant psych issues while detoxing. I evaluated him, and we went out in the hallway. We walked a few laps around PCU and attempted to return to his room on two separate laps. Paranoid, he did not believe I was taking him to his room. He became agitated and started running down the hall. I caught him and got him to stop, and we walked back to his room. He again did not believe it was his room and became more agitated. The HUC/sitter and I attempted to calm him down to no avail. I called out for Abby, and she saved the day. She was able to come in and change his thought process enough to calm him down. She was able to do this, as she had developed a good rapport with him over the previous three days and earned his trust. Abby is always smiling and a great representative of high performance with our patients. She always knows what is going on for the patients. She is a keeper.

Back to the August 2019 issue of the Nursing Newsletter