DAISY Award Winner: Josh Odom, RN

A nurse at Morristown-Hamblen was 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 Josh on receiving the DAISY Award! He was nominated by his manager, Joni Horton, RN, for the exceptional care and compassion he demonstrated toward a patient during their hospital stay, as well as the dedication he shows to every patient he serves. Read his nomination below:

Josh’s Nomination

I want to start this nomination by saying that every department needs a staff member like Josh
Odom, RN. A patient came into the hospital 20+ days ago as of August 14th that required mechanical ventilation for close to 2 weeks. The patient required a tracheostomy and peg tube placement based on the severity of his illness. Once the tracheostomy was placed, the patient was able to be weaned from sedation and ventilator support. The patient began to wake up, follow commands, and start communicating. Josh had this patient several days over the course of his CCU stay. He would make sure the patient was repositioned frequently, his long hair was brushed, and range of motion exercises were performed. Once the patient was able to start communicating, Josh brought him paper, pens, dry-erase markers, and a dry-erase board into his room to communicate. The patient could not read or write so Josh went and found the alternative communication board so the patient could express his needs. The patient began to be able to whisper and Josh would carry on conversations with him about the patient’s career, his families, and his hobbies. Josh came to me on Wednesday, August 14th and told me that the patient did construction work prior to coming into the hospital. Josh noted the patient was becoming more withdrawn because his strength was not coming back quickly and that he still required oxygen at times. He said that he truly believed that if he could take the patient outside in the sunshine that would be all it took to get him over this hump. I told Josh that if he could get physician approval, then I would discuss with administration, and we would take him outside in a wheelchair. Once everyone was on board, Josh and I sat the patient in a wheelchair and took him outside. I am not exaggerating at all when I tell you that tears of joy literally came to this man’s eyes and poured down his cheeks when the sun touched his face.

Josh truly has a servant’s heart. He goes above and beyond for his patients. He never makes them feel rushed and individualizes his care to every patient he comes in contact. The world is a better place because of people like Josh. He is a wonderful, kind, caring, smart, and compassionate nurse. We are so lucky to have him at Morristown-Hamblen and I am thankful to work beside him.”