When I think about what it means to be a nurse, the words that come to mind are caring, empathetic, compassionate, skillful, and healing. It is a great honor for me to nominate Kim Johnson for the DAISY Lifetime Achievement Award, because she embodies every one of these traits, and is the true definition of what a nurse should be. Kim absolutely loves being a nurse. She has been a nurse for over 40 years, with 35 of those years being spent performing her true passion, which is caring for babies in the NICU. It is important that I add that she not only takes care of the babies, but the entire family unit as a whole. She recently celebrated over 25 years of service at Chester County Hospital, and continually boasts about the culture of care within these doors.

After receiving her Bachelor’s degree from Villanova University in 1984, Kim also went on to obtain her Master’s degree in Nursing Education from Immaculata University. Her love for teaching is evident the moment you meet her. When I first started at Chester County Hospital, I had never worked in a NICU before. I was apprehensive to start a new specialty and knew I had a lot to learn. Starting something new can often feel overwhelming, but I was able to find comfort in this setting when Kim was assigned to be one of my preceptors. Anyone who knows her would say that she is very detail-oriented and doesn’t skip one step from A to Z, but what I was most impressed by was her non-intimidating approach and very nurturing mentality. It is often said that nurses eat their young, which I had experienced in previous positions, but there was such a sense of calm with Kim, and she was always cheering me on as I mastered a new skill. This quality about her has continued well past my orientation, as I still consider Kim one of my biggest cheerleaders, in life and in nursing, almost 10 years later. I wish I could say that there was something in me that made her so supportive, but the truth is that she treats everyone this way.

Kim has been a champion on our unit for providing education to families as they near discharge. She spends countless hours teaching parents how to confidently care for their fragile newborns.  She was instrumental in creating our Discharge Education Tree to help families as they prepare for discharge. She also led our team in creating a reference binder that guides staff nurses on how to prepare families for discharge. Her model is that learning is ongoing, from the day the baby enters our unit, and has encouraged a practice change from teaching a family everything they need to know on the day of discharge, to instead showing them, with the guidance of the Discharge Tree, that they have been doing these things all along. Kim does these things because of her passion to help families learn and succeed.

Throughout her career, Kim has helped so many families cope during the most difficult times of their lives. She has maintained relationships with families and truly cares about them, even post-discharge. To this day, she still talks about and keeps in touch with the family of one of the first micro-preemies that she ever took care of. In more recent years, she has even connected this particular family with current NICU families going through similar experiences because she felt that it would uplift them and give them hope for their child’s future. I could share a ton of stories about ways that Kim has gone above and beyond for a family, but there would never be enough time to tell them all.

I would like to highlight a recent example of the extraordinary care that Kim provided to a family that was going through an immensely painful experience. The mother was pregnant with her third baby and had delivered the older two children prematurely, so each of them required a bit of a NICU stay. During the second child’s hospitalization, which was a little more complex than the first, the mother boasted how Kim had taken such great care of her daughter and now she was doing the same for her son. Kim kept in touch with her post-discharge and was elated to learn that she was pregnant with a third baby. Unfortunately, Kim received a message one day while she was working that the mother had been experiencing decreased fetal movement. She had just received ultrasound confirmation that her baby was no longer alive and that she would be coming into the hospital shortly to deliver her baby, a fetal demise. I recall sitting with Kim as she read this message, and while of course we were both devastated, I just remember thinking that I couldn’t believe one of this mother’s first thoughts was to message Kim, who had no relation to this family at all, but who simply took care of them over the course of their hospital stays. But this is the kind of impact that Kim has on patients and their families. Really, it makes perfect sense that she chose to reach out to Kim right away.

The mother had relayed to Kim that she just needed to see a familiar face when she got here. Kim was, of course, going to visit with her, but she was nervous that she would be too upset and would not know what to say. Kim met the mother in her labor and delivery room as soon as she arrived, at her request. The mother then asked Kim if she would attend the delivery and step in as the baby’s nurse, post-mortem. She stated that she needed her because Kim had taken care of all of her babies, and wanted this one to be cared for by her as well. This was out of Kim’s comfort zone, as we do not normally attend the delivery of a fetal demise. Without hesitation, Kim agreed to be there for this mother and was able to help her in ways that she will probably never understand the full gravity of. She helped to bathe and dress the baby and to create keepsakes that the family would cherish forever. I should add that this delivery happened well past Kim’s scheduled shift and that she canceled plans after work to attend to this family, but Kim would do that for anyone who needed her.

I truly believe that everyone would benefit from taking a page out of Kim Johnson’s book. She has received many awards over the course of her career, including induction into the Distinguished Nurse Clinician Academy for Penn Medicine, the H.L Perry Pepper Leadership Award, The Henry Benton Award, the Lillian Bruner Award, and the Every Day Hero Award. When I think about the DAISY Award, and specifically the DAISY Lifetime Achievement Award, I believe there is no one more deserving than her.  Kim actively engages in not only the professional development of herself as a nurse, but also in that of those around her. She has been a role model to me personally and to countless others through her devotion to teaching and advancing the profession. She is passionate about her care of tiny babies and their families, which is evident in her everyday practice. I am a better nurse to have learned under the guidance of Kim Johnson, and I am a better person simply for knowing her.