Memorial Announced Glenda Southall, RN Named July 2022 DAISY Foundation Award Winner
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Congratulations to Glenda Southall in 7 Tower Medical-Surgical Unit! She was nominated by a patient who was under her care during her stay at Lake Charles Memorial Hospital. The patient described Glenda as living, dedicated, compassionate, tolerant, kind, empathic and considerate.
From the nominator:
Glenda’s passion and love for her job really helped me feel safe when she was on the schedule and/or assigned to my room. Glenda shared some of her physical challenges that are the same as mine. The identification was without parallel. My husband and I could feel her love, dedication, compassion, tolerance, kindness, empathy, consideration, etc. Glenda always communicated that I was just as important as any of her other patients. When I would apologize because I could see her rushing around. It is transparent that to Glenda, being an RN is not just her job, it is her passion. It’s also transparent that her “spirit” and her love for life is truly connected to being an RN. She truly honors her love of people by being an RN. She was honestly a bright light during my 8 day state that included some dark hours and days.
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
