April 2026 Honoree
Janine Edwards, RN, BSN
Today, I witnessed one of those moments in nursing that changes you—a moment that reminds you why we do this work, and how powerful it is when care is expressed not only through what we do, but through who we are. I am honored to nominate Janine Edwards for the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses.
I stepped in to help during a difficult situation with a very young patient in his 20s who had become verbally and physically aggressive toward staff. Janine was his primary nurse, toward whom he was aggressive. He is recovering from a traumatic brain injury after a pedestrian accident two months ago. Before this injury, he was a healthy, working young man with no behavioral or psychiatric history. This impacted him and his family very traumatically. The injury has altered his behavior dramatically, and the situation escalated to the point that we needed security support.
As we worked to stabilize the moment and ensure safety, the patient’s father walked back into the room. He saw what was happening and quietly broke. He picked up his backpack, walked to his son, hugged him, kissed him, and told him he loved him—then admitted he didn’t know what else to do. This dad was still trying to cope with what had happened to his beloved son in the past 2 months. The room went still. Everyone felt the weight of his grief. We wanted to help, but words felt painfully small. Nothing we could say seemed capable of meeting the kind of heartbreak standing in front of us.
Then Janine moved toward him and wrapped her arms around him. It wasn’t “just a hug.” It was the language of compassion when spoken words couldn’t reach the need. It said: I see you. You are not alone. We are here. In that moment, Janine gave the father permission to release his fear and grief, and she offered the only thing that truly fit—presence. He cried, and you could see that even a small portion of his burden lifted.
Later, as I walked him to the elevator, he told me, “I know you all will take care of my child.” That trust was born in the space Janine created with one simple, profound act of humanity. Janine is our campus’s first inpatient RN and will retire from bedside nursing this April. If this is the legacy she leaves us, it is a legacy of extraordinary nursing: the kind that treats families as part of the patient, and pain as something we do not turn away from. Janine Edwards embodies the DAISY values of compassion, presence, and patient-centered care—transforming a moment of helplessness into one of connection, dignity, and healing.
I stepped in to help during a difficult situation with a very young patient in his 20s who had become verbally and physically aggressive toward staff. Janine was his primary nurse, toward whom he was aggressive. He is recovering from a traumatic brain injury after a pedestrian accident two months ago. Before this injury, he was a healthy, working young man with no behavioral or psychiatric history. This impacted him and his family very traumatically. The injury has altered his behavior dramatically, and the situation escalated to the point that we needed security support.
As we worked to stabilize the moment and ensure safety, the patient’s father walked back into the room. He saw what was happening and quietly broke. He picked up his backpack, walked to his son, hugged him, kissed him, and told him he loved him—then admitted he didn’t know what else to do. This dad was still trying to cope with what had happened to his beloved son in the past 2 months. The room went still. Everyone felt the weight of his grief. We wanted to help, but words felt painfully small. Nothing we could say seemed capable of meeting the kind of heartbreak standing in front of us.
Then Janine moved toward him and wrapped her arms around him. It wasn’t “just a hug.” It was the language of compassion when spoken words couldn’t reach the need. It said: I see you. You are not alone. We are here. In that moment, Janine gave the father permission to release his fear and grief, and she offered the only thing that truly fit—presence. He cried, and you could see that even a small portion of his burden lifted.
Later, as I walked him to the elevator, he told me, “I know you all will take care of my child.” That trust was born in the space Janine created with one simple, profound act of humanity. Janine is our campus’s first inpatient RN and will retire from bedside nursing this April. If this is the legacy she leaves us, it is a legacy of extraordinary nursing: the kind that treats families as part of the patient, and pain as something we do not turn away from. Janine Edwards embodies the DAISY values of compassion, presence, and patient-centered care—transforming a moment of helplessness into one of connection, dignity, and healing.
Thank you, Janine, for your exceptional compassion, advocacy, and dedication to your patients. You truly make a difference.
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