Chung Odom was nominated for the DAISY Award by one of the hospital's cardiology fellows. In his nomination he states,

"Chung took care of a patient of mine who was critically ill after suffering a prolonged cardiac arrest with subsequent hypothermia protocol treatment. His intubation was prolonged, and after extubation his neurological prognosis appeared very poor. On top of this, the only contact information in his wallet was the card of a funeral home with a hand written note saying, 'in case of death.'

Indeed, he proved to have no family, and only had one visitor that I know of during his 3 week stay. During his time in the CCU, I arrived one morning around 5:30am, near the end of the night nurses' shift. As I pulled up a chair outside his room, I overheard Chung in the room, carrying on a one-person conversation with the patient. She did not know I was there. She was cheerfully and brightly explaining to him what she was doing; first that she was moving him in bed, then that she was cleaning off his IV site, etc. She then proceeded to tell him that the weather was supposed to be getting better soon, and then happily reassured him that I know you'll be getting better too in time to enjoy it!'

This scene repeated itself several times, always early in my day, and, amazingly, after a full night's shift of hard work for her. One could only hope to have a loved family member that was this kind, tender, compassionate, and caring. Seeing it from a nurse in what appeared to be a near-hopeless situation was remarkable and the best example of what medicine should be that I've seen in my 11 years.

The patient later recovered and last I checked was able to live at home alone again."