Rakia Cauley has been with Emory for almost eight years. She started at Emory University Hospital but only stayed for six months because she went off to have her baby.

After the birth of her baby, she returned to Emory but to Emory University Orthopedic and Spine Hospital and stayed there for four years. She’s been at St. Joseph for nearly 5 years working primarily as Unit Charge Nurse on the 5th Floor.

During the transition from normality to COVID 19, many got scared, they either quit or resigned. One morning, I came in and when I saw the look on Rakia’s face, I saw that she had a big concern. I asked about whatever was the problem, and at first she said, there was nothing wrong. I persisted and told her to talk to me because I knew that something was wrong. She then admitted that with her health issues, she is concerned. It was then that I recognized that Rakia had no desire to leave our unit, but what can be done? I held her hands and prayed with her.

Emory Healthcare recognizing the critical state of this virus, put out an email stating anyone who is unable to work on the COVID floors, needed to bring in a doctor’s note. Rakia then went to see her doctor, got a note, and gave it to our unit director. During the pandemic, Rakia was resigned to nearly all of the Acute Care Units. She worked with such grace even on days that she wished she could be back with her co-workers on her own unit. Through it all she persevered and made new friendships and networked with other coworkers. Although she wasn’t able to work on our floor, Rakia planned and participated in any and every project that was set on our floor.

I usually worked on the third floor but picked up two extra days on the fifth floor, so I only interacted with Rakia during shift change, or if I worked a couple nights on the fifth floor. When I transferred from the third floor to the fifth floor, this is when I saw Rakia in full color.

Rakia is of a quiet spirit and seems very simple, but don’t take her as she looks. Rakia has a lot of abilities under that quiet spirit and simplicity. She has a very creative mind. She is a woman of quality and purpose. She is extremely resourceful and she puts all her abilities and creativity into building up our floor.
Rakia was the one who birthed the fifth-floor newsletter. She put a committee in place and began this exciting, informative, and interesting venture. She sought the ideas of her committee along with the unit staff. Each and everyone looked forward to this monthly read. The mission of the newsletter was to keep the staff engaged. The newsletter was both educational and informative; topics included who’s who on the unit and little-known facts about our coworkers. There were opportunities to win prizes as well. I myself was featured in this magazine, featuring my book, which brought a lot of sales. This newsletter was historical. We all looked forward to this monthly read. Sometimes there wasn’t enough for each of us to have one, so it was posted in our emails that we could all have one for ourselves.

Rakia has so many responsibilities and does them without any complaints. Everyone in the unit looks up to her. In addition to her Charge Nurse role; Rakia is the unit timekeeper. She is also the co-Chair for the Exemplary Professional Practice Committee. She is one of Emory Healthcare's Peer Supporters. She is a part of the A3 responsiveness committee and the Employee Experience Committee. Rakia even steps in to assist staff with certain concerns when our Unit Director is away. I watched Rakia perform her roles, and she does it all with patience and enthusiasm. Rakia is always ready to help, patient, and understanding, and has a spirit of resilience.

When we started on our Epic journey. We, the Baby Boomers generation had a hard time understanding, even some of the Millennials generation and Generation Z were challenged with the new system. Rakia became our savior. She was always ready to help. UKG was new to Emory Healthcare, there was Rakia to bail us out.

During the Epic rollout, we had Epic support workers assigned to each unit. One particular night, nurses and techs were so challenged. We were in a state of confusion. The Epic support person kept telling us, “I don't know.” This was unbelievable. I was on 5E and Rakia was on 5W. I pulled my computer from 5E to 5W for Rakia to help me. Rakia stood at my computer, and showed me what to do. I was able to drag my computer back to 5E and was able to help the other techs. Rakia was charging that night, but she set herself in such a timely way that nurses and techs were able to go to Rakia for help. Now we can all say, we are now doing Epic and doing extremely well. Even after the Epic trainers left, we still had Rakia guiding us along, what a blessing.

We are so honored and privileged that we have Rakia working on our floor and Emory Saint Joseph Hospital should be proud and honored to know that we have one in our organization such as Rakia. Where you may have fallen short of assisting in any task or obligation, Rakia is here to pick up the slacks or any challenge for the greater good of Emory Healthcare.

It gives me great pleasure and a deep honor to nominate Rakia Cauley for the DAISY Award. She deserves it for her hard work, her resourcefulness, her faithfulness, and commitment. God bless you Rakia. You did a well done job and are still doing.