Memorial Announces Caitlin Young as March Daisy Winner

Congratulations to Caitlin Young, BSN, RN in the Emergency Department at Lake Charles Memorial Hospital. She was nominated by a coworker for her dedication, team spirit, positive attitude and attention to patient care.

From the Nominator:

The words caring, dedicated, resilient, and uplifting only begin to describe the type of nurse Caitlin Young is. Caitlin is deserving of this award because she consistently goes above and beyond every single day that she works. Even in the face of staffing challenges and a department of high acuity patients, as a charge nurse, she takes it all in stride, remains positive, rallies her team, and makes sure everyone is taken care of. She regularly stays late after her shifts to make sure situations are resolved and that additional help is not needed.

Recently, after working a particularly difficult stretch of nights, she did not hesitate to stay up after her shift to provide breakfast to nursing students at McNeese for a local event. You would think that she would have shown up to the event complaining and exhausted, but instead, she showed up in typical Caitlin fashion – energetic, in a great mood, cracking jokes with all of the students who came by for breakfast.

I have worked with Caitlin for almost 4 years now, and she continues to inspire me with her light-heartedness, sense of humor, and the way that she can make anyone feel included and part of the ER family. With that being said, here are comments from a few of her coworkers on what they think makes Caitlin deserving of this award.

“She’s always willing to listen and help whenever she can. She goes out of her way to make things easier for those around her without hesitation. She shows compassion to every patient, even if they aren’t “her patients”. She’s full of kindness and grace. Caitlin inspires me to be a better nurse!”

“Caitlin is always patient, always kind, and goes out of her way for her patients. She always remains positive despite the situation and tries to take patients while charging to ease our load even though she shouldn’t have to!”

“Caitlin is a well-deserving of the DAISY Award. She represents what a true leader should be. She’s very passionate about her patients and truly has their best interests at heart. She’s a team player and encourages her team to be very proactive about our patients' needs. She also believes that we each have a true purpose in doing what we do for patient care. I would be honored for Caitlin to treat and care for any of my family members when in need.”

“I have known Caitlin since well before transferring to the ED because I would come down from PICU/Peds and volunteer to help when we didn’t have patients. Caitlin was actually one of the reasons that I really enjoyed coming down to help. Her ability to be the ultimate team player who is always ready to lend a hand to her teammates while consistently being calm under pressure has never ceased to amaze me. Her ability to multi-task, quick decision-making skills, and strong critical thinking skills are second to none. Caitlin is also loved by her patients for her empathy and reassuring bedside manner. In addition to all this, Caitlin is a vital leader in our department, someone whom many nurses look up to and seek out for mentorship and advice. She has played a major role in our department’s Healthy Workforce campaign and is the mastermind behind our many amazing display boards she creates for staff engagement.”

“I would like to nominate Caitlin for a DAISY Award due to her engagement in the healthy workforce initiatives in the ED. Over the past 2 years, Caitlin has dedicated her personal time, energy, and money to changing our bulletin boards in the ED based on what is going on in the department and the time of year (football season, Mardi Gras, etc.). She then continuously engages the ED staff and providers in participation with the interactive boards. She purchases all of the supplies and never asks for or presents receipts for reimbursement, even though she has been notified to turn them in. She serves on the ED Healthy Workforce Committee, actively, and is chair of the ED Unit Practice Council. We wholeheartedly believe Caitlin is a DAISY Nurse because she truly embodies all of the qualities of a great nurse, colleague, leader, and human being."

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.

For more information regarding Caitlin's nomination, click here.