As a hospice and palliative care social worker, I frequently work with nurses to collaboratively care for dying patients and their families. Making the leap from providing nursing care to treat and cure a sick child to providing nursing care for a child at end of life is very difficult and requires an incredible amount of self-awareness, flexibility, compassion, and creativity. Lilly demonstrated these attributes and more to an impressive extent with a recent patient death that occurred in her unit.

The patient was an infant and dealing with distressing respiratory symptoms; in addition, the family lived far away and could often not be at the bedside due to a combination of childcare, transportation, and language barriers. She provided an incredible amount of insight and collaborated with our palliative medical providers to the fullest extent. She engaged in constant dialogue about the changes she was seeing in the baby, bounced ideas off our team, and expressed eagerness to learn how to better care for babies at end of life. She advocated for changes in care that were much different than what she was used to that ultimately greatly increased the baby's comfort and ease of passing. She showered the baby, the baby's family, and her team with love while providing excellent nursing care every step of the way.

Myself and everyone on my team agree that she was a shining example of the power of primary palliative care at the bedside. If we could have a Lilly (or multiple Lillies) in every unit in the hospital, the way patients and families experience death in the hospital would be completely transformed in a positive way. She is recognized for the hard, hard work she put in to support this patient and her family.

Note: This is Lilly's 3rd DAISY Award!