Susan Oley has been a nurse for 24 years, and she works as a Registered Nurse on the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Unit. As a nurse on this unit she has witnessed and supported significant changes over a relatively short period of time- changes in patient volumes, changes in acuity, a changing patient milieu, and changes in the environment overall. With these changes has come associated care provider risk as it relates to the patient population. Susan has embraced with care and compassion the opportunity to provide care to a very vulnerable patient population. She has done so at some degree of risk to her personal wellbeing and she has always put the patient first.
Recently when she had a risky encounter with a patient in distress she did not hesitate to use her expert skills to de-escalate the situation. Because of her compassion for the distressed child, she demonstrated incredible courage and was able to prevent harm to others through her outstanding efforts. Afterwards as others reached out to her to make sure she was ok, her first words and thoughts were for the patient. She expressed genuine concern and understanding for this child's unintended behaviors and with extreme grace she continues to bring her best self to this work that is surely a natural calling for her expert clinical skills. For this we thank her and recognize her with the DAISY Award for her amazing efforts in potentially risky situations.