Carolyn is a very compassionate nurse. She always has the best interests in her patients. Carolyn not only takes care of their medical needs but also their mental and financial needs too. Carolyn is a certified pastoral nurse. She spends many hours with her patient and other patients on the unit giving them the spiritual support needed for themselves and their families during a very difficult time in their life.
We had a patient on our unit recently that was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML); this diagnosis requires a patient to be hospitalized for long periods. In addition, there are a lot of hidden costs and long periods of recovery at home. This particular patient was working part time at Publix, taking care of her mother and living in an older trailer in a trailer park. She was paying $32.00 a week to keep her insurance. She had not worked in over two months, with her mother’s income and what she had in her bank account came to $400.00. Between our social service department and getting all her disability paper work completed she would not be eligible for any money until September.
Carolyn was kind enough to give her out of her own pocket $100.00. Maybe not a lot for some but to her it was a gift from heaven. Not only did she do this, Carolyn gave the money to her anonymously stating it was from the staff on 4South. Carolyn is now going to ask some of her friends and family for contributions for this patient and send it to her anonymously.
Carolyn in our eyes is a perfect candidate for the DAISY award.