Mary is the coordinator of the outpatient wound clinic, and every day goes above and beyond for patients, families, and her staff. Throughout the past year, the wound clinic has provided treatment for a community-dwelling 69 year old man with dementia. To every session (3x/week), this patient brings his significant other, who herself brings a host of psychosocial issues (including concerns regarding abuse, finances, housing, and clothing), and demands a great deal of attention. Mary has provided hours of guidance in person and via telephone to encourage this woman to seek counseling, shelter needs, and medical care as appropriate. Mary has arranged for her to speak with crisis counselors at the hospital, as well as lent her own ear countless times. Mary obtained a new pair of shoes for the woman, as hers were old and tattered, as she frequently commented on the nice and colorful shoes of the staff. Recently, the patient required hospitalization, and this significant other was inconsolable, and was wandering around the ground floor of the hospital. Mary recognized the significant other's voice from our clinic down the hall, sought her out, and was able to soothe her and calm her down. Mary further assisted by driving her home, as she did not know how to return to home without her significant other.

Another example of Mary's compassion is her orchestrating the transportation of an established patient of ours. This patient formerly took 3 city buses to get to work in the morning, requiring him to wake at 4:30am, along with 2 city buses to return to home after an appt in the wound clinic. Mary obtained, assisted in filling out, and filed the paperwork for the patient to receive Paratransit, so as to ease his transportation and financial burden, plus increase overall safety for the patient. Mary still assists this patient by calling to schedule appointments and procedures (even at other facilities).

A third example involves a patient, whose wound treatments took three times as long (1.5 hours) as typical (30 min) secondary to a particularly demanding personality. Despite the inability to remain productive or efficient with this patient, Mary understood the situation and remained fully supportive of her staff and never pressured us to monitor our time with the patient, even after treatments lasted several months. Additionally, Mary would talk to this patient for minimum 45 minutes per week via telephone for rounding, typically at home on her own time. Even after discharge from our clinic due to noncompliance, Mary still called her to check-in and ensure she was taking care of her needs.

Mary never hesitates in assisting her staff, and is always the first to ask how she can help and jump into treatments as necessary. She gives her staff her utmost attention and listens to our issues, work related or otherwise. She frequently brings in snacks and her famous banoffi pie, and even baked us a homemade lasagna just for lunch one day.

Mary routinely provides care beyond her job description, as none of these examples actually involve the treatment of wounds, the management of the wound clinic, or even sometimes, in the case of the first example, care of the actual patient. Plus, there are countless other examples similar to these. With all her patients, Mary recognizes a need, and unselfishly goes above and beyond to provide care. Mary devotes her own personal time without hesitation, and will sacrifice her own duties to ensure the needs of patients, families, staff, and, as in the first example, a patient's social support are met. Mary demonstrates incredible patience, professionalism, and is a fantastic and inspiring coordinator. She is the epitome of the Advocate's DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses.