Albany Hospital Presents DAISY Award to a Steadfast Nurse February 21, 2024 Samaritan Albany General Hospital has partnered with The DAISY Foundation in a mission to recognize extraordinary, compassionate nurses and the care they provide to patients and families every day. DAISY is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System. Betsy Carlson, RN, works in the Med/Surg Department and was astounded to be a DAISY Award recipient. Carlson started in the Med/Surg Department as a new graduate and has been with Samaritan since 2021. Carlson was chosen from among eight submissions. She was nominated by a patient who appreciated her professionalism and attentive approach to patient care. The nominator stated: “I had hip replacement surgery and Betsy was my nurse that night. First of all, I’d brought allergy meds from home, to take at night. I really didn’t want to deal with middle-of-the-night sneezing fits. These meds were not from the hospital. They needed to go down to the hospital pharmacy, get scanned in, labeled and checked against the other drugs that I’d been dispensed. I felt really bad for her because this would take some doing in the middle of the night! She was cheerful, reassuring and professional. Betsy kept me posted and when the meds came back as ‘all clear,’ she brought them to me to take so that whatever else was going on that night, allergies wouldn’t be part of it. “She also took the time to have a much more thorough conversation with me about pain than I had had before. I’d grown so accustomed to the chronic hip pain pre-surgery that a pain level of four or five seemed like a good target. She suggested I read the chart that explains what each pain level entails. I revised my target to two to three, deciding that I did not want pain to be a factor in the activities I needed to engage in to heal. It completely changed my thinking about pain in recovery — even now as I do my at-home physical therapy and practice walking. It made an incredible difference in my comfort level in the hospital and during my home recovery. “I don’t know whether it was intuition, skill or experience, but she realized that I may be unnecessarily limited by pain. Instead of telling me that, she patiently gave me information, options and support to let me make my own (better) decision. I really appreciate the extra time she took. She never made me feel like she needed to rush off to help another patient.” A ceremony was held to honor Carlson and the PRIDE — passion, respect, integrity, dedication and excellence — she shows in her work. At the ceremony, Carlson was celebrated by her colleagues and nominator who read her nomination to Carlson with tears in her eyes. She was presented with a certificate, DAISY pin and a beautiful Healer’s Touch statue created by an artist in Zimbabwe, which symbolizes the relationship between nurses, patients and families. Along with the public recognition, DAISY award winners receive financial discounts for nursing certification training, reduced tuition for continued education, conference scholarship opportunities and are eligible for the national DAISY Award. Carlson’s supervisor, Misty Sammard, describes her as kind, compassionate, positive and steadfast. “Betsy is here to support patients and provide the best care possible. She consistently takes the extra time to interact with her patients to make them feel heard and cared for. She gives her best every day and we are fortunate to have her as part of our team.” The other nurses nominated alongside Carlson were: Lily Bogard, ICU/CCU. Carmen Espinosa, Emergency Department. Julie Garman, ICU/CCU. Michele Harris Gifford, Pre-Op. Kayla Jucutan, ICU/CCU. Emily Lahmann, Womens Center. William Slack, Med/Surg. All nominees received a pin from their supervisor. The DAISY Award was established by the family of J. Patrick Barnes to “honor the super-human work nurses do for patients and families every day wherever they practice, in whatever role they serve and throughout their careers, from student through a lifetime of achievement.” To learn more, visit DAISYfoundation.org. To nominate an extraordinary Samaritan nurse, go to samhealth.org/DAISY.
