Memorial Announces Madison Foster, LPN March 2022 DAISY Foundation Award Winner

Congratulations to Madison Foster, LPN, a nurse on Memorial's Ortho-Neuro-Trauma Unit.

From the nominator:

My mom was recently in the hospital for 2 weeks. She had fallen and broke her right shoulder and right hip. Her hip required surgery. This was very traumatic for my mom. After surgery, she was in a lot of pain and because of the injury could not move much at all. If this wasn't bad enough my mom also has the onset of dementia. All of this together made for some long difficult days and nights.

The entire staff was great but Madison stood out to me. First off she was very professional. The way she conducted herself as a nurse was exceptional. She was always on her floor making her rounds and checking her patients. Madison is very aware of when things like medicine time are due. This is very important to older people because they need stability and consistency. On top of that being prompt, she kept my mom from laying there hurting.

Madison would talk to my mom about her medicine and also figure out the easiest way for her to take her medicine. All of this is very reassuring. But more than all of that the thing that impressed me the most was the compassion and personal care she showed towards my mom. It was to the point that I felt like she treated my mom as if she was her own mom. This was above and beyond what I think is her duty as a nurse.

At times my mom was very difficult. Dementia had her saying and doing things that were hard to deal with even for her family. Madison was able to sit and talk to her and spend time with her to ease her mind. She had a way to convince my mom that she would be okay and to trust that she would take care of her. This meant everything to my mom and also to us as her family. Madison is very good at her job as a nurse but more than that Madison is an exceptional person. When she is dealing with her patients you can see on her face how much she cares for them.

She treated my mom as if she were family. When my mom would not eat anything from anyone including me, her son, Madison would sit and take time to get her to eat and drink so she could recover. Madison stood out to me and I truly believe she is fulfilling her calling as a nurse. Lake Charles Memorial Hospital is very fortunate to have her on its staff.

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.

Read more about Madison's nomination here.