I cannot put off my nomination for the DAISY Award for this nurse for another day.  From the first day when we met, I have witnessed her attention and concern for each and every patient she sees.  She will scoff at my noticing and simply say, “It’s what we do.”  Or “I cannot not do something when I see something needs to be done.”  Whether it is finding a change of clothes for a homeless person or donating some item of need.  She finds a way to take care of our very needy homeless patients. 

But today was a special day.  We had a patient come to the Deflection Center, frightened and alone.  His blood pressure was beyond the acceptable range for admission, so we were going to have to send him to the hospital.  Transportation was not immediately available, so we talked to him and tried to make him comfortable.  He had just spent the previous two days at Parkland Hospital for his blood pressure, and now we were going to send him back.  I told him that Parkland is the hospital for the poor folks, and unfortunately, there are plenty of us, and sometimes some folks fall in the cracks.  But his shaky hands and other mannerisms made us fear he might be close to having a stroke.

Sally went to heat up her lunch as I sat with him.  I think most of the other folks went to lunch also.  I commented to Sally that he was hungry.  He never had breakfast, and they said they were going to get him some lunch, but no one came.  I looked up, and Sally brought the man two pieces of chicken from her lunch. The man hungrily ate it.  I hoped this might help him relax so his BP would come down, but instead, it went up even more.  At this point, we had to call 911 because we were concerned that he might have a stroke.

Some people are born to be nurses.  The quality of the care they provide cannot be taught in Nursing School. Sally is one of those nurses.  She doesn’t do it for recognition or for a raise in pay.  She does it because it’s what we do.