I nominated Michele Rieger for the DAISY Award because of her caring compassion for a patient who was near and dear to us, suffering a terminal cancer. The patient was very weak and had become dehydrated and hypokalemic from her disease process. This patient vacillated about her resuscitation status. It appeared she was trying to keep her family happy as she always did. Michele was very involved with this patient and her family in general, visiting and offering moral support. Michele was instrumental in creating a private moment with the patient to ascertain her true end-of-life wishes.
This patient wanted to go home with hospice. She fought hard for what she wanted and we wanted to support her with her family, but Michele was the one who made the patient's wishes come to fruition. Michele cut through all the distractions and assisted the patient to bring her family on board with this decision. I am sure you can picture the situation: an end-of-life situation when you know it is painful and the patient just can't state their wishes.
After the patient went home, Michele was there visiting and assisting the family. She actually was felt to be a member of the family because she did so much to support them. Michele attended the funeral and brought a large group of balloons to release to the heavens where the patient, no doubt, is.