Ms. Escamilla was nominated by Mr. R, NP for the Wound Ostomy Program, recognizing her exceptional dedication and outstanding service provided as Complex Transitional Care Program Nurse. He has collaborated with her with several patients. Ms. Escamilla continuously displays her dedication and compassion to care for Veterans every day. Mr. R shared a story about Ms. Escamilla which shows her providing exceptional care for a patient who declined care for his wounds that required close monitoring and continuous treatment.

Often times, Veterans decline services because they do not understand the process of the service being offered. Ms. Escamilla, during each visit, took time to talk, listen, and educate the Veteran on his wound and what the treatment plan entailed. She collaborated with Mr. R about the case and he was able to also speak with the patient. Her dedication to educating the patient gained his trust, and he agreed to accept the services being offered. Thereby, preventing recurrent visits to the Emergency Department or inpatient admission due to worsening clinical status directly related to nontreatment to his wounds.

Another experience shared by Mr. R is one that displays Ms. Escamilla’s high level of clinical competence in addition to her empathetic nature. Her astute observation, sound judgement, and quick thinking have led to timely interventions with conclusive positive patient outcome. She demonstrated this as she performed an outstanding head-to-toe assessment and noticed the patient was not in a healthy status. The Veteran presented with a lateral ankle pressure ulcer and she quickly activated transport by ambulance. The Veteran was transported to Audie Murphy VA Emergency Department and admitted to SICU for a higher level of care. Ms. Escamilla’s progress notes a day prior to the patient’s hospital admission significantly prevented this pressure injury being counted as hospital acquire. Her dedication and commitment to compassionate service make deserve for the DAISY Award as well as exhibiting all the I CARE values.