It is my pleasure to nominate CCU for the DAISY Team Award. The compassion and dedication that this team shows on a daily basis are unmatched and awe-inspiring. They are devoted to caring for each other as much as they care for their patients. When any member of our team experiences a hardship, the entire team feels it, and they rally to support and care for that individual. When a team member has something to celebrate or a joyous occasion like marriage or the birth of a baby, they have sincere joy for their teammates and work to support them and celebrate with them. Without being asked they will collect supplies and funds to donate and gift their colleagues in an outpouring of desire to care for their own. The compassion, love and devotion that they show each other, and their patients is touching, and heartfelt.

Recently, they have had the difficult challenge of caring for patients who were members of our own leadership team. During this time, I was impressed by the team's professionalism as they set aside their own feelings and provided exceptional care for these individuals. Caring for people that they knew and cared about was an honor and labor of love but it was challenging. I listened as they expressed their own grief and the emotional difficulty that they faced while providing care to people that they were close to and had worked with. Despite their own emotional and personal connections with these individuals, they put aside their own grief and provided loving and devoted care to the patients. I am constantly impressed with how they navigate, coordinate, and collaborate intense and complicated patient care with numerous Physicians, Respiratory Therapists, Social Workers, Chaplins, and Nurse Practitioners.

Another recent inspiring story that displayed their selfless caring, dedication, and compassion was the example of patient C.H. This patient was a 45-year-old female with a history of metastatic cervical cancer. The patient was admitted with severe sepsis, pyelonephritis, hypercalcemia and peritoneal carcinomatosis, malignant ascites, intractable pain, and cervical cancer. The patient had a very long length of stay here at OCMCC, over 65-days and was a very complicated case. During the patient's time in CCU, the team became close with the patient and their family. The team provided impeccable care and demonstrated leadership, collaboration, and compassion by identifying and addressing the family's cultural, financial, and emotional needs. It was important that the patient's remains be taken back to her home and place of birth. The CCU staff helped raise the funds to pay for the patient's cremation and transportation back to Mexico so that the patient's final resting place would be in her home country and near her family, as were her final wishes. The CCU staff are professional, dedicated, compassionate leaders who constantly go above and beyond for others and for their patients.