Thank you so much for taking time out of your schedule to speak with me today. Hopefully sharing my experience with you and your organization will prove to be an example of extraordinary care and service that should not be overlooked. Whenever an individual has a bad experience, the word gets out quicker than you can blink. This is my attempt for your organization to receive positive feedback in the care I received from one of your employees: Debbie Houchin, RN. Debbie works on the seventh floor, south side at Methodist Hospital.

Here's a little information on me that will set the foundation for my selection at nominating Debbie for the month of December 2011. I was adopted when I was a young girl, therefore not knowing too much about my genes. Please review what I found out:


Dad: died at age 34 due to a head aneurysm
Mother: Kidney and heart failure currently going to dialysis 3x/week
Brother#l: quadruple bypass at age 33
Brother#2: died at age 21 due to a head aneurysm


As you can tell, the odds are definitely against me if we're going by family genes. Apparently I'm the only one that made it to 43 without heart attack, head aneurysm or death. I work full-time as a Project Manager as well as attending graduate school.

Debbie displayed all seven key points that a DAISY Award winner should demonstrate. I would like to add that this was not just for one situation or day. This is the way Debbie genuinely conducts herself since day one of meeting her.

I felt that Debbie truly made me the center of her focus inside my room at the hospital as well as outside of my room. It could be time to give me my medicine and she'll come walking in asking how I felt. She also told me what type of medicine she was giving me along with the definition of the statistics she and her CNA had on the board.

Debbie strives for excellence and pushes beyond not just by the big things that she accomplishes, but also the little things. As a nurse she always ensures the patient is comfortable during their illness. When there are goals to accomplish she makes it seems as though this is a team effort, this making you feel like you're not doing this by yourself.


I have a port in my chest so there were some opportunites I had to witness Deb interacting with her peers as well as employees from other departments. Debbie was very helpful and displayed a team effort when these opportunities presented themselves. A perfect example was when a phlebotomist entered my room to fulfill doctor's orders to obtain blood from me for blood test. As Debbie attempted the blood draw it became apparent that we had some issues with my port getting blood from it. The phlebotomist and Deb begin to work together to see if they had other options. As an end result the phlebotomist got blood from my finger. You would think this would be the end of this.

When Debbie is your nurse you're not just a number, you're part of a team. By Debbie's actions you can immediately deduct that her goal is to make sure her patients are as comfortable as possible while maintaining your dignity as a person with the goal of getting you healthy and back home with your family and friends as soon as humanly possible.

You can tell that Debbie is committed to her profession by the quality of care that she displays to her patients. She's an asset to the community each and every day she commutes from Weeping Water, Nebraska to Omaha. The love of her profession doesn't interfere with the distance she lives from the hospital.

My blood pressure began to rise once again. I indicated to Debbie that I think that I was missing one of my blood pressure meds (Dyazide). Debbie had begun to aggressively treat my blood pressure by following the doctor's orders giving me one Clonidine once an hour if: systolic>160 and diastolic<100. The bottom number was around 123 and that's what it focus was on, trying to decrease the diastolic number to an acceptable number.

To my amazement, Debbie also researched my question about the Dyazide only to discover it was never verified through the pharmacy last Thursday evening when I checked in. Debbie addressed and resolved the issue in a timely fashion. She got the pharmacy to verify the medication and got it up to my room to take. As a result of these actions by Debbie, I was able to stop the clonidine every hour because my blood pressure dropped down to the lowest it's ever been. As of this email communication my BP was as follows: 137/95, this is a great change from 172/120 with a pulse of 128. Debbie enters your room in an approachable manner and as a patient of hers.

Thank you Debbie for delivering EXCELLENT care!