DAISY Award Winner: Candace Reid, RN

A nurse at Parkwest Medical Center were honored recently with The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses. This award is part of the DAISY Foundation’s program to recognize the super-human efforts nurses perform every day. The DAISY Award was established in 1999 by the family of a patient who had received extraordinary care and compassion from his nurses during his final days.

Congratulations to Candace, a nurse in the Childbirth Center, for being recognized with the DAISY award. Candace was nominated by new parents who were overwhelmed with the amazing care Candace provided to their daughter. Read her nomination below:

“We were told at the evening shift change by Candace’s colleague, “I love Candace; she is incredible. You all are in good hands!” What I didn’t realize was just how much an impact she would have on our family through thorough care, trusting gut instincts, and superb bedside care and consideration.

We are new parents of a lovely baby girl on day two post-partum. Our baby had been exhibiting small hand shakes shortly after birth when she was overstimulated. This is a normal reflex and nurse and pediatrician alike assured us all was normal, especially considering her blood sugar levels were looking normal.

Candace really wanted to recheck our baby’s blood sugar despite this not being required or requested by the pediatrician at the mid-day checkup. Her communication was thoughtful, compassionate, but also highly informative as she walked us through her reason for recommending. Sure enough, our baby’s blood sugar had dropped rather suddenly and completely unexpectedly.

Once again, with care and understanding, she walked us through what this meant. She gave us a care plan to recover and reassured us that these proactive measures had helped us catch and address this early. She said it was very common and we should not worry.
Candace later shared that when she first assessed our baby, she couldn’t shake her feeling that the jitteriness was off. A sediment the baby’s mother had shared. She trusted her gut instinct as a caregiver and allowed our family to treat this early and possibly avoid more severe complications. Candace joked, “I just couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t check that sweet baby’s blood sugar for Mommy’s peace of mind as well as her own. Her open and sincere tone, temperament, and relatability gave us peace and confidence in a confusing and concerning whirlwind.

Since then, our child’s blood sugar, weight and feeding has stabilized. She is much healthier and happier, and her mommy and daddy are relieved. A huge thanks to the entire Parkwest L&D team, especially Candace.”

Nurses may be nominated by patients, families, and colleagues to receive The DAISY Award. To nominate a nurse today visit www.TreatedWell.com/DAISY.