Photo:
Left – Tracie Kulesa, Right – Lynn Frank, CNO

Registered nurse Tracie Kulesa grew up on her uncle’s farm in Gilman. She knows farming is a 24/7 job, and farmers have a hard time being away from the constant demands of their animals and land. When one of her patients was hallucinating that the hospital was his barn and became angry that other people were in it, Kulesa understood. She worked to calm the man with her
words and with medication. Eventually, Security and the man’s wife had to be called, and still Kulesa continued her assistance to the gentleman.

“Tracie was using all the resources she could to deal with her patient and this nightmare situation,” writes the patient’s wife in her nomination for Kulesa’s DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses. “Never once did Tracie raise her voice, act afraid or back away.
She did everything she could to help him — calmly and with compassion. At all times her voice and actions were soothing and filled with concern.”

When the patient’s confusion cleared, his wife writes, “what he does remember most about the night before was Tracie, talking to him, trying to help him understand where he was. It really does take a true angel to deal with a rapidly escalating, potentially dangerous situation with the compassion and humanity that Tracie demonstrated that night. We will never forget her.”

Tracie makes a point to share praise with her colleagues in Neuro/Peds/Trauma. “They’re like your family,” she says.