Ensign Abigail Waller, a Naval Medical Center Portsmouth (NMCP) nurse assigned to the Postpartum 4KL Ward, was surprised with NMCP’s 3rd Quarter DAISY Award during a ceremony Aug. 6.
Each quarter, staff and patients nominate the nurse they believe to be most deserving of the award. The nominations go to a panel of NMCP staff, who chooses the winner.
“I would like to nominate Ensign Abigail Waller on postpartum 4KL for the DAISY award,” said Ensign Sarah Garces.
“Ensign Waller exemplified the utmost dedication to the care of her patient. Upon the assumption of shifts, she immediately recognized that her patient, a newborn infant, urgently needed medical intervention and was able to promptly get her the attention she needed,” said Garces. “As a stable-qualified nurse, she was able to distinguish that the mistaken crying was in fact nasal grunting, a subtle sign of respiratory distress.”
Waller also received a nomination from the patient’s mom. In her nomination, she wrote: “While the NICU nurse was in the room with me, I kept commenting on how this baby must be really grumpy because she was constantly grunting and restless. I was unable to get her to latch, as I was able to previously while in the labor room. My nurse was Ensign Abby Waller. She came in around 7 to assess me for the hourly checks. She also assessed my baby and she told me “…her latch is really weak” and she listened to her breath sounds. My baby ended up having pneumonia,” the mom explained. “I am so thankful for her every day, that she was on staff that day, and that she was my nurse most of all. If she wasn’t with me, we may have had a different outcome from the happy, healthy baby we have today.”
During the presentation of the DAISY award, Waller thanked her leadership for providing her the opportunity to continue her education and take classes. Classes, like the one she had finished only one week prior, helped her to recognize the subtle signs that her patient was in respiratory distress.
“The mom came back about a month after she was discharged and brought her baby with her, and I got to meet her and hold her,” Waller said. “It was one of the most rewarding moments of my life, by far, and it really solidified that I love what I do.”
The DAISY gifts of appreciation include a certificate, an “Ask Me About the DAISY Award” pin, a daisy flower to put on the name badge, and a serpentine sculpture. The sculpture is hand-carved by the Shona tribe in Zimbabwe. They are especially meaningful, not only because they depict the embracing relationship nurses have with their patients, but also because of the profound respect the Shona people pay their traditional healers. Shona healers are affectionately regarded as treasurers by those they care for and this describes exactly how the DAISY Foundation, and the organization’s partners, feel about nurses.
“The unit gets to hang the DAISY banner so all of the moms and dads and babies that come in here get to see what kind of nurses we have on staff,” said Capt. Dixie Aune, Directorate for Nursing Services director.
The DAISY Award was established by The DAISY Foundation in 1999 by the family of J. Patrick (Pat) Barnes, a patient who lost his life to the auto-immune disease ITP. Barnes’ family wanted to recognize the incredible care that the nurses provided him before his death and created the award now embraced by healthcare organizations around the world.
During Pat’s illness, his family was impressed by the clinical care, compassion and kindness his nurses brought to the bedside day in and day out. Following Pat’s death, his family created the DAISY (an acronym for disease attacking the immune system) Foundation to say thank you to the nurses for the extraordinary care they provide patients and families every day.
According to the website www.daisyfoundation.org, The DAISY Foundation has evolved in to a meaningful recognition program embraced by healthcare organizations around the world. Since its inauguration, there are more than 2,600 healthcare facilities internationally committed to honor their nurses with the DAISY award across the continuum of care from urban teaching hospitals to small rural community facilities. Today, more than 85,000 nurses have been honored and in excess of 900,000 nurses have been nominated.
“We are very proud to partner with The DAISY Foundation to showcase the extraordinary nurses here at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth,” Aune said.
As the U. S. Navy's oldest, continuously-operating hospital since 1830,
Naval Medical Center Portsmouth proudly serves past and present military
members and their families. The nationally acclaimed, state-of-the-art
medical center, including its nine branch clinics located throughout the
Hampton Roads area, additionally offers premier research and teaching
programs designed to prepare new doctors, nurses and hospital corpsmen for future roles in healing and wellness.