There is a field of nursing that often goes unnoticed or is unheard of. When the community thinks about nurse hero's they tend to imagine a nurse at a hospital or nursing home setting, but nurses exist in other fields. Nurses exist in the correctional environment. Every county, big or small has a local jail and within the confinements of that jail, there is a nurse taking care of patients. The skills needed to practice inside a jail are not taught in nursing school. For this reason, our society forgets about these nurses.
At DuPage County Correctional Center there is a nurse by the name of Brandie Rickett. While newer to corrections, anyone that works with Mrs. Rickett can see that her heart and soul are in correctional medicine. She cares for the patients, comes to work even when she is off, and in the midst of the COVID pandemic, she went above and beyond and became the "go-to" COVID nurse. She has tested hundreds of patients needing COVID testing and when the vaccine came out, she was one of the first nurses to ask if she can be a part of the team to administer the first vaccines.
Ms. Rickett is not afraid to advocate for her patients and even when the floor is hectic and chaotic, she remains positive and willing to help her colleagues. I am so proud to have Brandie on my team here at DuPage County and I feel honored to nominate her for the DAISY Award. Brandie, your work in corrections is noticed and highly appreciated. Thank you for what you do.