Michelle J Vernet, BSN, RN

I nominate Michelle Vernet, Baker ED Registered Nurse, for the DAISY Award in recognition of her extraordinary nursing care. Michelle did not know that while she was on shift in the ER, she was going to significantly impact someone’s life. The triage nurse brought a patient back to her room with jaundice, nausea, and a 20-pound weight loss over 1 month. Michelle quickly connected with this patient and offered her comfort, compassion, and reassurance. When Michelle took her lunch break, she ran over to Wynn’s Supermarket next to the downtown hospital. While grabbing her lunch, she found a cute yellow pineapple stuffed toy and purchased it for her jaundiced patient. Her patient had a strong yellow appearance from jaundice and wanted to brighten her day up with this stuffed toy named “Douglas”. Michelle returned from her lunch break, handed it to the patient, and said, “Here, if anyone asks you why you are yellow, tell them Douglas made you yellow.” The patient smiled widely and thanked the nurse for bringing her a moment of relief and laughter.

Michelle also saw that the patient was fearful of the blood draw and asked for a 2nd nurse to come in to hold her hand. This kind act made the patient feel at ease and comfortable. The patient was admitted and transferred to a medical unit. Michelle said goodbye as she was taken up to her new room. 72 days after being admitted to the hospital, the patient unfortunately passed away with pancreatic cancer. The husband reached out to NCH and was able to track down the nurse, Michelle. He states that Michelle had a lasting impact on his wife’s last days alive, and they still have the yellow stuffed pineapple toy on their mantle at home to remind him of the compassionate, kind, and authentic nursing care they received from Nurse Michelle. Michelle went above and beyond for this patient, and this is what the DAISY Award stands for. Please consider Michelle Vernet for the DAISY Award.