From left, Sara Bacon, MSN, Erlanger nurse director of Critical Care; Tiffany Farr, BSN, nurse manager MICU/WICU; Ali Sexton, RN and October DAISY Award Winner; and Rachel Harris, BSN, Erlanger chief nursing executive
Erlanger honored nurse Ali Sexton for the October DAISY Award.
A DAISY Foundation program, the DAISY Award is a national award to celebrate nurses who define patient and family-centered care through recognizing the super-human efforts nurses perform every day. Nurses can be nominated by anyone in the healthcare organization, including patients and family members.
The heartfelt nomination came from a former patient’s family praising Ms. Sexton for her exemplary care and compassion during an exceptionally difficult time. While the patient was in the COVID unit, they were given news of another close family member’s passing. The nomination stated, “Ali hugged her, cried with her and checked on her every 10 minutes during her entire 12-hour shift.” The nomination goes on to describe how important and impactful this extra kindness was beyond what was expected and helped during a very difficult time.
“The compassion Ali shows her patients, especially during extraordinary times, is unparalleled and we are blessed to have her,” said Rachel Harris, Erlanger chief nursing executive. “The extra time Ali spent with this patient shows her determination to go the extra mile, even if she doesn’t realize her extraordinary actions are exactly that. Nursing is so much more than healing the physical body, and nurses like Ali demonstrate the importance of caring for the whole person in mind, body and soul throughout their stay with us.”
The DAISY Foundation was created in 1999 after Patrick Barnes passed away from Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura. His family wanted a way to honor him and show appreciation for the nurses’ compassion and kindness they extended to the whole family during his eight-week stay in the hospital. Barnes’ wife, Tena, created the DAISY acronym, which stands for “diseases attacking the immune system.” For more information about the DAISY Foundation or the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses, please visit www.DAISYfoundation.org.