Where do I begin… I was a patient in December 2020 right when the surge of COVID was happening. I came in with a foot wound and was transferred to a room on 5B. Upon arriving on the unit, I was greeted with a warm “eye” smile by a nurse that wanted to assure me that the unit I was on had no COVID patients on it. She proceeded to come into my room and welcome me to her unit and stated that she would be by soon to start my admission process. This very friendly nurse turned out to be Chelsea.

As a first-time patient in the hospital and being an employee of Boswell but not knowing what goes on within the front lines, Chelsea opened my eyes to the job of what nurses do. She explained everything every time she came into my room; what procedure was coming up, what doctor was stopping by, and why. She also explained why I needed to have so much blood work done, what tests were ordered, and what they were for. I appreciated the extra mile that she went with giving me the information.

When the surgeon stopped by to check on how my foot was doing – Chelsea came into my room with a nurse that was in training (her name was J). Chelsea started to assist the doctor with the dressing change on my foot. Chelsea had to step away for a couple of minutes but explained to J that this might be her chance to assist the doctor. Upon her return, she asked J what went on while she was in another room. J explained to her that she assisted with the dressing change and cleaning. Chelsea’s eyes lit up with the news that J got to assist the doctor. Chelsea was so excited to congratulate J and told her that it’s every nurse in training's dream to assist a surgeon. She high-fived her and told her great job. Doing this in front of me teared me up. Seeing how Chelsea went the extra mile to assure this new nurse that she’ll do good wherever she ends up after graduation was special.

Going above and beyond is what Chelsea demonstrated the whole time I was in the hospital. The daily smiles, the extra warm blankets for my cold room, assisting me with phone numbers for Banner’s Short-Term Disability and, the pep talks to keep my spirits up were what truly made my experience around Chelsea enjoyable. She was very composed with the high census, but nothing rattled her. Chelsea is a nurse that Banner needs to recognize. Chelsea continued to follow my progress even after discharge to make sure that I’m healing and my foot is getting better. That says a lot to me that Chelsea would continue to follow up on me! And that is why I’m nominating her for the DAISY Award. Great job Chelsea!