This letter is in support of Wayne Neal's nomination for The DAISY Award. I met Wayne in 2004 during the time that my daughter was inpatient at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. At the time, my daughter had been diagnosed with idiopathic cardiomyopathy and was awaiting a heart transplant. After a lengthy stay at the hospital, she was stable enough to continue her wait at home. However, in order for that to happen, my husband and I needed to learn CPR prior to her discharge. We were blessed to have Wayne Neal as our instructor. When we met, Wayne was very well prepared for our case, and understood the likelihood of my husband and I utilizing CPR sooner rather than latter. With this knowledge, she gently coached us through understanding CPR and administering the techniques to a doll. At first, it was very difficult for me to focus on administering CPR to a doll. Wayne immediately keyed-in on my distraction and instructed me to call out my daughter's name every time I performed a compression. I was hesitant initially because calling out her name while performing CPR seemed too real and was a bit frightening. Wayne encouraged me to move past the hesitation and focus on the task that could potentially save my daughter's life. Her goal was to create a lifelike situation to see how we would respond, and to provide step-by-step support to ensure our understanding and ability to provide the necessary care. We worked repeatedly to get each step correct and Wayne cheered us on as we overcame our hurdles. By the end of the session, we were all satisfied that we could administer CPR if necessary. What Wayne gave to us that afternoon was more than a course in delivering CPR; she gave us the confidence to respond quickly and effectively in the event that my daughter needed us to. More than anything, she taught us how we could help save our little girl. Over the next several months we interacted with Wayne on many occasions and even began to understand what was meant when we heard the term "family-centered care".

Wayne exemplifies these principles everyday. She is a staunch advocate for families and is always focused on family involvement to ensure that families have a voice and the necessary tools to care for their children in both home and hospital settings. Wayne Neal is an excellent choice for the DAISY Award and I am pleased to stand in support of her nomination.


In addition,

Wayne Neal was very instrumental in developing and conducting and Infant Care Class in collaboration with the Advocacy and Community Affairs Department of the Child Health Advocacy Institute. This class, mainly geared to new parents, provided information and guidance on popular topics experienced by newborns such as diaper rash, Breast feeding, and colic to name a few. Wayne offered her insurmountable expertise to new parents and was able to provide them with the confidence and skills for them to successfully take care of their newborns.