DAISY Winner’s Diverse Background Shapes Compassionate Care December 20, 2024 Administrators and DAISY Award committee members at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center surprised nurse Vanessa Ville, RN, during her shift in the Center for Women & Families with the announcement that she will be given a DAISY Award. The award, which was officially presented at a Monday, Dec. 9 event, recognizes her exceptional patient care and empathetic approach to nursing. The award celebrates her remarkable work with a labor and delivery patient who faced severe medical anxiety, demonstrating Ville’s unique ability to blend compassion with clinical expertise. The nomination letter that earned Ville the award tells a compelling story of a three-day labor where her interventions proved crucial. “Vanessa was my nurse during the most intense part of labor,” the patient wrote. “I have extreme medical anxiety, and I never thought that I would be able to get through childbirth and labor.” The patient’s husband added a powerful testimony: “I cannot think of that time period without breaking down crying. After we finally got the epidural put in, Vanessa spent the next hour and half getting my wife calm and emotionally stable and insisted that I take a break as I was also emotionally overwhelmed and exhausted.” Ville, who joined the nursing profession in 2020, brings a unique perspective to her role, shaped by her previous experience in mental health services and adventure sports. “Working in mental health with young adults taught me invaluable skills in reflective listening and coping strategies,” Ville explains. “When you’ve worked with severe conditions like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, you develop a deeper understanding of patient needs across the spectrum of care.” Before pursuing nursing, Ville’s career path was anything but conventional. She served as a volunteer firefighter in Northern California and worked as a river rafting guide, experiences that helped her develop crucial crisis management and leadership skills. Her love for water sports, stemming from her water polo days at UC Davis, led her to become a certified raft guide – a passion she now shares with her husband. The decision to become a nurse came after the birth of her first child, and Ville completed her nursing education while raising two children, now aged 8 and 12. Despite the challenges of being a non-traditional student, she persevered through her prerequisites and nursing program, balancing family life with her studies. Now working in Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center, Ville has found her home among a team she describes as exceptional. “There’s so much camaraderie and teamwork here,” she notes. “Everyone brings something unique to the unit.” The impact of Ville’s care is perhaps best summarized by her nominating patient: “I can honestly say that I had been dreading birth and labor for my entire adult life, but because of Vanessa it was a good experience and not the highly traumatic event I had always imagined it would be. She is an exceptional professional and truly amazing in her level of individualized care.” The DAISY Foundation is a nonprofit organization established in memory of J. Patrick Barnes. Patrick died at the age of 33 from complications of idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura autoimmune disease. The care Barnes received inspired his family to create the award to thank nurses for making a profound difference in the lives of their patients and patients’ families. Patients, families and co-workers can nominate a nurse for a DAISY Award at samhealth.org/DAISY. More information is available at daisyfoundation.org. Caption: Mary Jackson, assistant department manager, reads nomination letter to Vanessa Ville while Laura Sailor prepares to give her a bouquet of flowers.
