Palliative Care Nurse Michelle Homann, RN, was honored with the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses at Sarah Bush Lincoln on March 30.
Homann was nominated by a coworker for going above and beyond to provide compassionate care and counseling to a patient and his wife during his final days. Her coworker shared the following story:
“Michelle worked many hours in tandem with the palliative care social worker to provide much needed support to a couple who were struggling to accept the patient’s disease progression. After a great deal of counseling and education, the patient and his wife agreed to accept hospice care when he was in the hospital and transitional. Michelle was able to help guide them to this understanding through spending much of her weekend on her own time with them at the hospital. She stayed late to help educate and support the staff on administering necessary medications, but primarily to work with the patient’s wife as well.
Michelle recognized that anger is a stage of anticipatory grief and knew it was very hard for the wife to accept the impending loss of her husband. Michelle committed to be there for the wife to provide one-on-one support to help her through this difficult time. In addition, she educated her on what to look for and what to expect. The patient died a little more than 24 hours after they accepted hospice and it is Michelle’s patience and skill that got the patient and his wife both the care that they needed.
The patient’s wife later wrote an article about her appreciation for this and the care received at SBL. Michelle’s care and willingness to come in on her weekend off to do the right thing for them made ALL the difference in how this couple experienced the patient’s last days, and how the wife will process the loss going forward. I can't tell you how proud I am to have her on my palliative care team!”
Sarah Bush Lincoln has joined more than 2,700 healthcare facilities by becoming a DAISY Award hospital partner. During the award presentation, Homann 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 received 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 interim coordinator, Tracey McCord, RN, at (217) 238-4987 or tmccord@sblhs.org.