I am nominating Kristen Kemp and Cortney Threat for the DAISY Award. Over the last year, I have had the distinct privilege of working closely with Ms. Kemp and Ms. Threat as they lead by example to demonstrate how nurses can impact Veteran care not just locally but nationally to improve outcomes and save lives through their clinical competence and compassionate care giving.

Ms. Kemp and Ms. Threat were the recipients of a promising practice award for the National Shark Tank Project under the Diffusion of Excellence program. In 2023, they were selected as a top 15 practice from a vast application pool of promising practices across VA. Their practice, Resistance to Resilience: A Veteran's journey with Ketamine, was chosen to be implemented by the VA Cincinnati. In the first meeting with the point of care from VA Cincinnati, the contact, who was a physician, shrugged his shoulders and said, "We already do Ketamine here. I'm not sure why our leadership wants us involved with this program." But with deeper inquiry, the VA Cincinnati wanted to add an IM route for Ketamine administration, which they had been unable to gain concurrence for, although Central Arkansas had been using the three available routes (IV, IM, and intranasal) for many years. Both VA teams met face to face at the end of January to create an implementation plan for this promising practice, and at that time, our contact from VA Cincinnati was on board and definitely saw the benefit of working with these two outstanding nurses. Following this engagement, Ms. Kemp and Ms. Threat led an interdisciplinary team session to problem solve for VA Cincinnati to enable them to use the IM route, and within two months, VA Cincinnati had added this to their protocol and had started administering it to their Veterans.

What impresses me about Ms. Kemp and Ms. Threat is their fearless, caring commitment and care that they demonstrate to their Veterans here in Central Arkansas, and how they tirelessly work to support them on their healing journey, AND how they work to leverage their expertise to Veterans and other clinicians across VA. Their passion has extended to working with Dr. Eric Hermes, the Director for Psychopharmacology and Somatic Treatments in the VA Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, and consulting with him about their practice and ideas to expand Ketamine infusion access for other VAs that would like to implement this intervention for treatment-resistant depression. Ms. Kemp and Ms. Threat embody the highest ideals of nursing compassion, advocacy, and a willingness to explore new pathways to advance care following the evidence. They are extraordinary communicators and passionate advocates. In short, they are rock stars and demonstrate the power of nurses to make lasting and impactful change in the lives of our Veterans.