Memorial Announces Carsen Jones August 2025 DAISY Award Winner

​​​Congratulations to Carsen Jones, BSN, RN from Lake Charles Memorial Hospital's 2 Tower. She was nominated by a patient's family member for his empathy and kindness.

From the nominator:

My father had surgery two weeks ago. Expected recovery time in the hospital was 1–2 days. Unfortunately, we ran into multiple complications post-surgery, none of which we were prepared for. So, our concern level was high, to say the least. On top of that, my dad can be a difficult patient, with his aversion to pain, needles, and hospital food. His care took an extraordinary amount of patience and a balance of determination with compassionate care.

Carsen delivered on all fronts. He not only went above and beyond to ensure he had provided us with a thorough understanding of what was occurring and why, but he also made sure to consistently ask us if we had any questions, concerns, or uncertainties. He was empathetic with my father's pain and concerns while also ensuring that he followed the surgeon's directions for expediting recovery (which was no small task in itself).

After a week in the hospital, the surgeon authorized release. When I got to the hospital to get my dad, I had some worries about whether he should be released just yet. Carsen came in, and before I could bring it up, he expressed his own concerns about the same. He went up the chain of command, expressing those concerns and why he felt they might require further testing before release. They ended up requesting a CAT scan, which confirmed Carsen's assessment. They had to perform a follow-up procedure to alleviate an issue discovered in the scan.

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 Carsen's nomination, click here >>>