This letter was written by an attending physician in reference to Jennifer Ali:
“I am writing this letter to nominate Jennifer Ali for the DAISY Award. She is one of our excellent critical care nurses and works mainly at the MICU. I met Jennifer approximately 2 years ago when I started working at the University of Miami MICU. She has always performed her job in an exemplary fashion and has been a valued asset to the patient care team. She is an intelligent, industrious, and very reliable person of strong moral character and ethical conduct.
I decided to nominate Jennifer after the following experience. We had a young patient in the MICU who was critically ill and also had severe psychiatric issues. I witnessed how Jennifer advocated for her patient. She spoke out and made us understand that we might not have been paying enough attention to some of the patient complaints. Physicians and other healthcare workers are sometimes so busy that we may underestimate complaints from that type of patient. It is very important for the health care team to have somebody like Jennifer who is always helping the rest of the health care team hear a patient’s voice. Advocating for patients comes naturally to her.
It is for that reason that I give my strong, unrestricted support for Jennifer Ali’s nomination for the DAISY Award.”