This award is meant to acknowledge exceptional patient care. In this instance, the department staff are the patients. I am proud to recognize Ken as our manager who works tirelessly to keep us all going. His love for nursing has always been at the bedside, his career has transitioned him into a managerial position, but his passion is still evident. Ken has gone above and beyond for his staff and the patients of this department. He arrives early in the morning and leaves late in the evening with his door always open. He welcomes every interruption to listen to us; to complain, to grieve, to simply take a break from the chaos of the day.

After a full day, he takes calls and texts at all hours of the day and takes patients to fill the gap. After a 40+ hour work week, he is pounding the pavement with us at 3 AM, 7 AM, 7 PM….it never mattered. If we called, he came. Even prior to the pandemic he would randomly show up on the weekends with donuts or buy coffee for staff on a Tuesday. In the midst of a horrible past 2 years, he has stood beside us every step of the way. While this may not involve direct patient care, I will say that he enabled and encouraged all of us to be able to provide that care at the bedside with him beside much of the time. This is not one heart-touching example of exceptional care, but I assure Ken is a DAISY Nurse for his exceptional care of all of us.