I am writing to express my gratitude to an extraordinary emergency room nurse who showed extraordinary compassion to my husband during a scary time. My husband's experience did not start on a positive note, but because of Anastasia "Stacey" Robey, my husband agreed to stay in the ED to finish his workup, which is why Stacey is and always will be our extraordinary DAISY Nurse!!!

I brought my husband to Quick Care for a sudden vision change and a mild headache. He was transferred to UMC ED for a higher level of care because he had a positive finding on the ophthalmoscope exam. We arrived at UMC ED at 16:52. My husband had lab work and a CT/CTA scan. We then waited in the ED all night while awaiting the next steps. My husband told me I could go home at 03:30 and get a few hours rest while we waited for the next steps. I received a call at 07:30 from my husband, who was upset because of something he overheard, and he wanted to leave. I immediately got up, drove in, and went straight to his bedside. His day nurse, Stacey, was at his bedside. She listened to our concerns/complaints and jumped into action, not because we complained, but because she cared!! She went above and beyond her duties and called and asked for the ophthalmologist consultation to be changed from routine to STAT because she knew that the "routine" order meant my husband would not be seen until Monday. She was decisive and involved in all aspects of my husband's care and met my husband's needs by providing excellent nursing care and treating him as a human being who needed to be heard and valued.

The little things that Stacey did made the most significant difference in my husband's care and his outcome. She stayed open to my husband's needs by getting him water and a breakfast tray because he had not been offered anything to eat or drink since he arrived. She created a safe and healing environment for my husband amongst the chaos in the beds around him. Being in the ED with just curtains between each patient, you could hear the compassionate communication that Stacey was providing to other patients, and even though there were much more critical patients around us, Stacey rounded on my husband frequently to ensure all of his needs were met. Stacey was an angel sent to us that Sunday morning to change a negative experience into a positive one. All the patients in the ED who have Stacey as a nurse have been given a gift to have such a positive, enthusiastic, and cheerful nurse. She is a team player (we could hear it through the curtains). She remained calm and was reassuring to the patient in the next bed while helping the patient get through their crisis, just as she was calm helping my husband get through his.

My husband knows about the DAISY Award and knows what it means. Even he stated that of any nurse he has ever encountered during his multiple medical encounters, no one is more deserving of this award than Stacey!! As a previous DAISY Honoree here at UMC, I can't think of a colleague who acts as a role model for others and one I would recommend as a mentor to her peers more than Stacey. Over my husband's 24-hour stay in the ED, my engagement with Stacey was personally and professionally rewarding. My husband's care was always a priority for Stacey, but we also discussed the professional barriers she faced in my husband's case. She never allowed these barriers to interfere with her ability to deliver professional, skillful, and compassionate care. Because of Stacey's actions at the start of her shift, we left at 15:04 on Sunday with a Diagnosis and a follow-up plan. She freed up an admission bed for a patient who needed it and an ED bed for another patient to be seen. Thank you, Stacey, for being OUR extraordinary DAISY Nurse!!!