Lindsey Flowers, RN, was honored with the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses at Sarah Bush Lincoln on June 18.
Flowers was nominated for going above and beyond to provide support to a mother during the birth of her first child. The mother shared the following story:
“I was admitted to Sarah Bush Lincoln for a scheduled induction. This was my first child, so I was very nervous going in. Lindsey was my day-shift nurse when my labor was progressing and I was going through the most difficult part.
Due to the coronavirus outbreak, I was only allowed one support person, my husband. This was hard for me, and I was upset thinking I wouldn't have any other support during my labor. Though she did not have to, Lindsey instantly became my second support person and a support for my husband. She sat with us as I endured painful contractions, talked me through them and gave me pain relief options as my contraction got stronger but I was no making progress. She did not make me feel pressured or that I was obligated to use the techniques she presented. She encouraged me to keep going and made me feel so empowered as a woman, and ultimately held my hand and walked me through every step as I cried while receiving the epidural.
After 20 hours of laboring, I ended up having an emergency C-section. During a different day shift, though she was not my assigned nurse, she came back to check on me on her own after realizing I was still a patient. She sat with me and gave me support as I voiced my concerns and anxieties, listened to me cry about my worries as a new mother, gave me an abundance of encouragement and positive reinforcement, and made me feel so cared for. She made me feel like things were going to be OK during a time when I was unsure. She deserves this award and so much more for what she did for me. I cannot thank her enough!”
Sarah Bush Lincoln has joined more than 2,700 healthcare facilities by becoming a DAISY Award hospital partner. During the award presentation, Flowers received a certificate, a DAISY Award pin and a unique, hand-carved serpentine stone sculpture from Zimbabwe, entitled, “A Healer’s Touch.”
The DAISY Award was established in memory of J. Patrick Barnes, who died at 33 of complications of Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), a little known but not uncommon auto-immune disease. (DAISY is an acronym for diseases attacking the immune system.) The care Patrick and his family received from nurses while he was ill inspired this unique means of thanking nurses for making a profound difference in the lives of their patients and families.
Patients, visitors, nurses, physicians and other employees may nominate a deserving nurse for The Daisy Award and a nurse will be selected by SBL’s DAISY committee every month to receive this special honor. Nomination forms are located at www.sarahbush.org and at all SBL clinics and on patient floors. The forms can be submitted to any Sarah Bush Lincoln staff member, or sent via email to daisy@sblhs.org or mail to Sarah Bush Lincoln, DAISY Nursing Award, 1000 Health Center Drive, Mattoon, IL 61938. For more information, SBL DAISY coordinator, Tracey McCord, RN, at (217) 238-4987 or tmccord@sblhs.org.