Memorial Announces Ciara Conway May 2025 DAISY Award Winner

Congratulations to Ciara Conway, RN from Lake Charles Memorial Hospital for Women's Family Birth Center. She was nominated by a patient for going above and beyond to support a new mother and her baby.

From the nominator:

One year ago, my husband and I brought the most beautiful 6 lb 7 oz, red-headed baby girl into the world. But we couldn’t have done it without the best labor and delivery nurse. I was scheduled for an induction. Little did I know, it would probably be the longest and most challenging day of my life. That day, I requested to the shift beforehand if Ciara could be my nurse. Having met in nursing school at McNeese back in 2014, we kept in touch over the years through social media, as both of us decided to attend different colleges. I contacted her before delivering to see if she was still working at LCMH as a labor and delivery nurse, and to my excitement, she was. It just so happened that the day I went in to be induced, Ciara was scheduled to work. I knew I wouldn’t be able to deliver my first baby without her. Even after not seeing her for all those years!

On that day, my delivery seemed like it was going to go smoothly. Ciara talked me into every deep breath and push. Hours went by, and I wasn’t progressing like I should have. I had to have an emergency C-section. By this point, it was at the end of the day and getting close to Ciara getting off her shift. But that didn’t stop her from being there during my whole delivery, and all the days after.

After I delivered, my daughter had to spend the next few days in the NICU. Ciara wasn’t scheduled to work for the next few days, but she came in just to check on me and our baby. On our first day, we got to spend time with our daughter, as frightened new parents, Ciara was right by our side, coaching us through it all. She even helped my husband feed our daughter for the very first time. After a few days had passed, it was time for us to be discharged and go home. And don’t you know, it just so happened that Ciara was scheduled to work that day to send us on our way. I can’t find the words or express how much her compassion and love meant to my new little family. I seriously could not have done it without her. I can’t think of anyone else more deserving to be nominated and to win this award. I can only hope and pray that she is there for my next baby. I won’t be able to do it without her!

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 Ciara's nomination, click here >>>