I nominate Janie Eason from AICU for the DAISY Award. Janie is not one of my nurses. She does not work with me or on my unit, but a chance encounter with her really struck me as a genuine encounter with a nurse who truly exemplifies our Franciscan values. I could tell when we met that her nursing care here at St. Francis was truly a mission.

I am the night shift PCC on the BMT, and I came in to work one day to do some things in my office. It was one of those days when a lot of drama was occurring on the unit. We did not have enough critical care nurses, we were short handed and one of our special patients was in the process of dying.

This special patient was a woman in her late 30s or early 40’s with five children… this is always the kind of patient that tugs on our heart strings. I went to look at assignments when I realized that a nurse who floated to us was caring for this patient. It wasn’t that she could not handle the care, but the emotion of caring for a patient and her family during such a tragic time seemed unfair to me. I looked at the assignments and decided the charge nurse had made the right decision.

I knocked on the patient’s door and Janie was in the room giving the patient a post-mortem bath and getting her cleaned up for the family. I introduced myself and started to apologize when…she THANKED me. Yes, she thanked me. Her words still go through my mind, she said “Oh thank you for allowing me to love on this patient and her family. That was not what I was expecting. She went on to say that she enjoyed spending the time with and praised the unit. She really made a difference!

What a blessing to have Janie as a nurse at our hospital. Janie is a perfect example of our Franciscan values in Action!