Memorial Announces Kennedy Hart, BSN, RN May 2021 DAISY Foundation Award Winner
- Category: Awards/Recognition
- Posted On:
The most recent DAISY Foundation award winner is Kennedy Jeffcoats Hart, BSN, RN. She works in our Family Birth Center at Lake Charles Memorial Hospital for Women. The DAISY award is a national award that recognizes extraordinary nurses.
From the nominator:
This was my first time having a baby after struggling with infertility for 3 years. It was a very special time in my life and one I had been waiting for a very long time. Kennedy was my Nurse and she made me feel very comfortable and safe. She was very personable and professional and monitored my baby and I closely. Kennedy explained in detail what was happening while I was being induced and as my labor progressed. However, my labor wasn’t progressing much and I was having a very hard time with my contractions. I couldn’t keep the pain medicine down and didn’t get much rest.
Kennedy made sure the Doctor and other staff were informed on what was going on and how I was doing. When the Doctor came to break my water, Kennedy held my hand and talked to me. Soon after that, it was time for my epidural and she held me in her arms because I was hurting so bad from my contractions and needed to be still for the epidural. She told me I was doing a great job and made me feel calm during the pain while still holding me in her arms. After my water was broke, the Doctor came back in to check me and couldn’t feel my baby anymore. Somehow my baby had turned out of position. Kennedy already had everybody on stand by and they brought me straight into the OR for a C-section. Kennedy never left my side the entire time. She made sure to communicate to all the other staff what was going on and made sure everything was how it was supposed to be. She went above and beyond to make sure I was well taken care of. She even came to visit me the next day when she was off work and brought me a sweet card and a gift for my baby.
The one thing that stood out to me the most about Kennedy was her compassion for her job. She shined so bright and brought that sunshine to me as a patient. If there’s one thing that I will always remember from my experience, it is the feeling of calmness she gave me while she held me in her arms during the contractions and epidural. It’s almost as if I can still feel her holding me in her arms when I think about that day when I had my greatest blessing. I don’t remember how hard it was or the pain, I remember her as my Nurse and how she made me feel. My family and I are so grateful she was my Nurse and as an employee of Memorial myself, I am so very proud that we have her on our team. She is an amazing Nurse and person and deserves this award.
About DAISY
In late 1999, at the age of 33, Patrick Barnes awoke with some blood blisters in his mouth. Having survived Hodgkins Disease twice, he was admitted to the hospital and diagnosed with the auto-immune disease, ITP (Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura).
Said his father, Mark Barnes, "We are so blessed that we were able to spend the eight weeks of his hospitalization with him and his family. During those weeks, we experienced the best of Nursing. We were there to see the clinical skill that dealt with his very complex medical situation, the fast thinking of nurses who saved his life more than once, and that nursing excellence that took years to hone to the best of the profession. But frankly, as a patient family, we rather expected that Pat would have great clinical care. That was why he was in the hospital. What we did not expect was the way his nurses delivered that care - the kindness and compassion they gave Pat and all of us in his family every day. We were awed by the way the nurses touched him and spoke with him, even when he was on a ventilator and totally sedated. The way they informed and educated us eased our minds. They truly helped us through the darkest hours of our lives, with soft voices of hope and strong loving hugs that to this day, we still feel."
Just days after he died, the family began talking about what they would do to help fill the giant hole in their hearts that Pat’s passing had left. His wife came up with the acronym, DAISY, standing for diseases attacking the immune system. As they discussed what to do in Patrick’s memory, first and foremost, they wanted to say Thank You for the gifts nurses give their patients and families every day. That is when the family created The DAISY Award For Extraordinary Nurses.
