I would like to nominate Karen Vallier, Case Manager for the distinguished DAISY award. Karen has been at LeBonheur for 33 years. During her career at LB she has served in several different roles including staff RN, clinical educator and she is currently a case manager on 5W. Karen has a very powerful story, which includes the adoption of one of her patients from her ICU/TCU days. Her adopted daughter just celebrated her 21st birthday!
In her current role, Karen is phenomenal. As the case manager for 5 W, Karen is very passionate about ensuring the needs of our patients are met. She takes initiative before being asked to do so and follows up diligently. One instance that comes to mind, was regarding a pulmonary patient who was discharged from the unit in the early afternoon with the expectation that the home health agency would deliver the nebulizer to the home before the end of the day. The father called me around 1630 stating they had not heard from anyone. I immediately went to Karen’s office and she started making calls to inquire about the delay. After a series of calls, Karen said that if necessary, she would get a nebulizer from the hospital and take it to the patient so they would have one for the night. The last call I received from Karen was at approximately 1800 and she was still on the unit working on this case. She was finally able to get in contact with the company and they were sending someone out right away. Karen even had the company to call me and confirm the nebulizer had been delivered. This is only one instance of when Karen goes about and beyond the call of duty. She is tireless in her efforts, passionate about our patients and a true asset to the LeBonheur family.