Stephanie has been with DaVita for over 8 years and was most recently a Clinical Coordinator at one of our busiest hospitals in the region. Recently, Stephanie was promoted to Hospital Services Administrator, and now oversees the very hospital she used to work in as an RN, among 3 others. Stephanie’s attention to patient care, and being an advocate for the care of her patients, shows in her words, actions, and how she teaches others on a daily basis. Stephanie often times has to step out of her HSA role to become one of her Cost Center’s only Preceptor. Her dedication to teaching the clinical aspect of the RN role is truly impressive. She never complains about long work hours, or juggling multiple roles, she just does what needs to be done. When I check in with her to see how she’s doing, she always puts a positive spin on the day (even if it’s not going well) and does it in the spirit of providing excellent patient care.

I distinctly remember one occasion when Stephanie’s focus on patient care really came to light. Stephanie called me late one Friday night and said, “I have an emergency situation to discuss with you. Two patients at two different hospitals are emergency Stat treatments and need to be done immediately." Stephanie was calm and collected, and presented me with the facts as she knew them (and educated me on what I didn’t understand) and made it very clear: “If we do not get to these patients within an hour or two, they will likely not survive.”

Being new to dialysis and to the Village at that time, I was freaking out! The gravity of that situation still sits with me today. I remember Stephanie telling me, that these patients were not even at the hospitals that she oversaw. After I asked what seemed like a hundred different questions (and probably annoyed her greatly at the time) she told me one patient was located at a hospital nearby, the other was a 2+ hour drive away. Without any reservation, she told me she was already “en route” to the further hospital, and is working on calling in another RN to treat the patient in town. I didn’t have to ask Stephanie what to do, she just did it. I thanked her of course, but then asked, "Why are you driving to the furthest hospital away without even considering another option?" She said: “We don’t have time to consider another option.” I understood exactly what that meant, and to this day, I admire Stephanie for the active leadership she showed in that situation. Again, this was late on a Friday night. Did I mention, this wasn’t even one of her hospitals? Unbelievable.

I remember getting off the phone with Stephanie after she told me she also found an RN to treat the other patient in town, and I just sat there and reflected on the gravity of the situation and what Stephanie did. She just saved two lives. She managed through incredible adversity, and on a timeline that was literally life or death. I thought of what kind of impact her decisions made on the families of those patients. I also thought, these patients and their families probably will never know much if anything about Stephanie, or what had to be done to provide them the care they deserved and received.

My family knew I just got off a very challenging call, but they didn’t know what it was about. My wife and two children asked me… what happened? I told them about Stephanie, and how proud I was of her. I told them what she did. I told them what her actions meant, that other people will get to continue to stay alive because of her. That conversation I had with family my was emotional. It made me proud of Stephanie, and it made me proud of what she and all of our amazing nurses do each and every day. They give life.

It is truly, MY honor, to nominate Stephanie Buehler, RN, HSA for the DAISY Award.

From my team, my family, our patients, and their families – Thank you!