We will never forget you. My family and I nominate Dave Ray for the DAISY Award. In the early morning hours my 89 year old grandma suffered a life threatening, very severe aortic dissection. After examination in the ER she had emergency open heart surgery and against the odds, pulled through. Dave Ray was the receiving nursing when she came back from surgery.

I want to start by saying that my grandma is the shining star of our family. She is the glue that holds us all together and the love we have for her is unimaginable. We were left shocked, devastated and broken hearted. We were told how risky the surgery would be (if she made it to the surgery) and then how critical she would be in the hours that followed.

We first met Dave when she arrived in SICU post op. Dave met us with such extraordinary confidence, calmness, compassion, and caring, we were put at immediate ease (given the situation). Over the course of the day, Dave cared for my grandma, managing the ventilator, administering lifesaving drips, blood products, medications, all while keeping us informed of everything. I have never seen someone work so tirelessly with so much going on. Just to look at the amount of what Dave was doing was overwhelming (and I am a nurse). Every 2 hours when we were allowed to visit, we would make sure to thank Dave, because we were so appreciative of his excellent nursing care and how informed he kept us. His response each time was "it's my pleasure". We could see in his face and feel in our soul, that it really was his pleasure.

I have no doubt that Dave is one of the most knowledgeable nurses at Trinity. He deserves of the DAISY Award, not just because of his vast nursing knowledge, ability to care for the most critical of patients, ability to put patients and families at ease, ability to be compassionate and caring, but still not take his eye off his patient, but also because there isn't an ACES standard that Dave doesn't exhibit. There isn't anything he could have done better.

We owe my grandma's life to the ER staff, Dr. H, the OR team, and to Dave who was there completing the puzzle of saving her life during the most critical post-op period. I want to emphasize the nursing knowledge that he possesses to understand and successfully be able to care for patients such as my grandma.

It's my pleasure to nominate Dave for the Daisy award, just as it was his pleasure to be a part in saving my grandma's life. I know this is part of what Dave does every day for some family's loved one, which is exactly why Dave shines so bright. Every day he is giving extraordinary nursing care, helping to save someone's family member's life and making his patient's and families feel at ease. It's a normal day for Dave, but each day Dave is doing his work, is an extraordinary day for the patient and family whom he is caring for.



Thank you, Dave Ray, from my grandmother and all of her family. We will never forget you.