I would like to nominate Claire for the DAISY Award because she exemplifies what it means to be a great nurse who goes above and beyond her job duties and responsibilities. I have worked often with Claire, and I have noticed time and time again that she really cares for our psychiatric patients but in particular has a special spot for our geriatric psychiatric patients.

Many times, I have received reports from my coworkers to hear that, unfortunately, many of our geriatric patients are unable to participate in their ADLs and hygiene care. Although it is not the role of the RN to clean the patients, Claire makes it a top priority to ensure that her patients and other patients on the unit are able to take a shower. I appreciate Claire for helping me when she doesn't have to do it. Claire makes me feel safe and comfortable providing care for our patients. Even if Claire has charting or other nursing tasks or duties to do, if she told a patient, "I promised to give you a shower," she will fulfill her promise. There was one shift where Claire was assigned a full list of 5 or 6 patients. With that kind of patient load, Claire was busy assessing, medicating, charting, etc. There were a multitude of patients who wanted to bathe. Claire expressed her need and priority that the patients needed showers because they were malodorous and hadn't showered in what felt like days. Claire had a busy day, but she reminded me and told me we need to bathe our patients. It didn't matter if she had charting to catch up on or whatever was on her plate; she really wanted her patients to be clean. Many of our geriatric patients require two patient assistants because of their size and underlying health conditions. I was pleasantly surprised that Claire never complained about turning a patient or helping transport them to the other unit where there is a bathroom accessible for our geriatric patients. We were able to shower all her patients, and other patients noticed, and they, too, wanted to take a shower. Claire did not complain or hesitate to help them. She did it out of the kindness of her heart and with a smile. She was more than willing to help me take care of the additional patients who requested a shower. We must have showered 6 or 7 patients that day!

Claire, I want to thank you for continuing to be a great nurse for your patients. You are always there to advocate for them. You treated our geriatric patients as if they were your own parents or your own grandparents. You have a compassionate heart. I am incredibly grateful and blessed to call you my coworker. Thank you for all that you do.