I am very happy to have the opportunity to nominate one of my fellow peers, John-Tyler "Hunter" Delk, RN, for The DAISY Award. Hunter has worked tirelessly throughout the COVID-19 pandemic functioning in the role of Charge Nurse, Vascular Access Nurse, and a staff Critical Care RN when warranted by staffing strains. The day before Halloween, Hunter was informed that he would be coming into staffing to care for a COVID-19 patient who was rapidly decompensating. Without delay, he facilitated the patient's transfer to the ICU section of our unit to implement aggressive measures to try and prevent further decline. The patient required BIPAP ventilation at maximum settings and the patient had to be placed in the prone position to ventilate appropriately.
It was brought to Hunter's attention that the patient's wife was also a patient on the unit. Luckily, she had improved enough to discharge home. He brought this to the attention of his leadership and facilitated a visit with her husband before she went home. Hunter took the time out of his busy day to go and explain how critically ill the patient was to his wife and was very honest and forthcoming with information. She was informed that if he did not improve, he would require intubation and would likely not survive the coming weeks. Hunter took the patient's wife to see him so they could have a private moment together before she left. Days later, her husband did pass. When the patient's wife was notified, she was so thankful that Hunter took the time to help her see her husband one last time before he went to Heaven. Hunter shows care and compassion daily on our unit and this is just one example of how he is making a pandemic bearable for many struggling families.