Karen Duke and I had the pleasure of working together on unit 78C a few years ago. As her charge nurse, I was able to count on her to be cognizant of the Veterans' needs while simultaneously completing her tasks and duties in a timely manner. Karen really cared about the Veterans, and her approach and relationship with each of them were individualized. She always volunteered to help with tasks that weren't assigned to her to keep her teammates afloat and the Veteran's experience positive. Karen was a competent nurse that respectfully stood up when something didn't seem right. She always had a way to calm down any stressful situation. You can imagine how much easier that made my job as charge nurse, and you can imagine how sad I was that she was detailed to another unit and then stayed there after her detail had ended. Though I no longer work as her charge nurse and have changed roles myself, Karen has been a fantastic fit on unit 4C from my current vantage point. Karen continues to uphold all the previous things I've mentioned and then some. She has been extremely gracious in orienting/training many of the new/transfer nurses in medication administration, even if they are not assigned to her unit. It has been my observation that these nurses do quite well because of her excellent ability to be willing and kind yet firm. There are many smiles and laughs EVERY TIME I find my way to her unit, but rest assured, Karen will be the first to respond to any emergency with focus and intent. I appreciate that Karen has not only been dedicated to doing her job but to loving her job, as it makes for a fun and enjoyable environment for not only the nurses but the Veterans. It is a true measure of a nurse to treat others how they would want to be treated, should they find themselves as a patient. If I were ever a patient, I would certainly choose Karen to be my nurse because I know I would be in good hands. Recently, I was doing a med shadow competency with a new nurse on 4C, and a Veteran known to be hesitant due to paranoia was giving the new nurse a hard time. Karen came out of her way (she was assigned to meds on the other side of the unit) and spoke with the Veteran to attempt to calm him down. He told Karen that he didn't trust the new nurse to give him the right medication. Karen did her very best to explain that the nurse would give him the same medications that she would. After approximately 10 minutes, Karen explained to the new nurse that he is known to do this with new nurses and offered to give him his medication so they wouldn't be late or not accepted at all; she knew he couldn't afford to miss those meds. Karen's approach to both the Veteran and the new nurse was totally calm, supportive, and professional – this further proved to me that she genuinely cares when others could have simply looked the other way. As a sincere thank you to Karen for going above and beyond every day for both Veterans and her fellow co-workers, please consider Karen Duke for the DAISY Award!