Ashley McCoy

Ashley was nominated by a patient who has had a very difficult life’s journey.  She was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at age 9.  During one of her stays in the hospital, she learned that her mother had passed away.  Ashley was not on duty at the time of her mother’s passing but made a special trip to the hospital to see her since she was alone. The patient did not have the financial resources to make it to her mother’s funeral.  Ashley gave her the money to get gas for her car so she could make it to her mother’s funeral and she worked with physicians to facilitate her discharge so that she could attend and come right back.  Subsequent to her mother’s passing, her grandmother stayed with her.  When it became obvious that the patient would be in the hospital more than just a few days, her grandmother had to return home.  Ashley came to the hospital on her days off and sat with her so that she wouldn’t be sad.  The patient, a Senior in High School at the time, had her prom coming up.  She didn’t have a dress and her boyfriend didn’t even have a suit.  Since her boyfriend was at the hospital, Ashley took the boyfriend to get a tux and corsage and made sure the patient had a dress so that she could go to her senior prom.  In another stay in the hospital, Ashley found out that the patient’s cell phone was out of minutes, so Ashley got her some more minutes because that was the only way she had to contact her family and check on her dogs.  Because of this, the patient dubbed Ashley her “Memphis Mother.”

A few months later, this comes from Paula Dycus, Administrative Director of Professional Practice & Research...

I just have to tell you a story about one of our winners. We give an award each month but have so many great nominations that it might be a few months from the time someone is nominated until they receive the award. We keep nominations for a rolling calendar year. One of our patients--an 18 year old with cystic fibrosis--nominated Ashley McCoy.

As usual, we were a few months behind in honoring Ashley. We took our parade to the 11th floor where Ashley was working to surprise her. She was in the room with a patient and we were trying to get her to come out of the room so we could read the nomination to her. As I started reading, she told me that this was the same patient who she was just in the room with. So, we took the whole parade (about 20 people) into the patients room to read the letter and present Ashley with her award. We were all crying and laughing and having a great time.

This was absolutely one of the best experiences of my nursing career!!! The patient was ecstatic. She was doing well and getting ready to go home. Sadly, a few weeks later she died at home. She was so thrilled that we chose her letter and even posted a picture of herself and Ashley on her Facebook page.