Over the past 50 days, Amy has shown amazing caring and patience related to one individual here on 10 West. The patient is a 63-year-old female who has a prominent disability and self-care deficits that prevent her from doing even the simplest task related to self-care. Amy has worked tirelessly to ensure that this particular patient has had great attention placed on her self-care needs. Through several attempts and sessions of gaining trust, Amy was able to encourage this patient to allow her to bathe her on a regular basis. You could see in the patient's face how much improved her mood was after allowing her nurse to assist her in bathing. Because the patient had not been bathed in so long (largely in part because she did not trust staff) her hair had become matted and the patient had developed a fungal infection that her providers were treating. After Amy had established trust with the patient, the patient allowed Amy to cut her hair, shampoo it, and drastically improved her appearance, confidence and reduce the need to medical treat the fungal infection. On several occasions, Amy has been seen in the shower with this patient attending to her self-care needs and focusing on making sure that the patient could be clean and comfortable.
Throughout the process, Amy has maintained that this is just another part of her job. However, the patient's demeanor has improved and as a result, the patient is much more agreeable to work with other allied health care professionals as we wait for her to have appropriate placement in a long-term care setting. I believe that Amy Belcher is deserving of this DAISY Award not for providing excellence in patient care (which is what Amy does daily); she deserves this DAISY because she has taken steps toward making the patient comfortable, has improved the patient's mood and is providing holistic care body, mind and Spirit for this patient who was originally very reclusive and distrusting of healthcare professionals.