Memorial Announces Brandy Bertrand July 2025 DAISY Award Winner
- Category: Awards/Recognition, Careers
- Posted On:
Congratulations to Brandy Bertrand, BSN, RN from Lake Charles Memorial Hospital's 4 Tower. She was nominated by a patient in her care for her compassion and kindness.
From the nominator:
My nurse, Brandy, has been wonderful. She constantly checks on me throughout the night. Not everyone can be called a nurse, but Mrs. Brandy can. I hope that, for whatever reason, I may have to come back into the hospital, I hope Mrs. Brandy could be one of my nurses. I am thankful to God for LCMH and Mrs. Brandy. My heart fills with tears every time she comes in because of her kindness. She always tells me goodbye before she leaves and lets me know she will see me tomorrow if I am still here, and if not, she wishes me good luck. Again, I thank you, and God bless you. I will never forget my wonderful nurse, Mrs. Brandy. P.S. She always says call me if you need me, and if I’m unavailable at that time, someone will come check on you, and they did.
About DAISY:
In late 1999, at the age of 33, Patrick Barnes awoke with some blood blisters in his mouth. Having survived Hodgkin's 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 Brandy's nomination, click here >>>