Over a year ago, an ICU nurse at National Park Medical Center helped a family through a difficult situation and, for her compassion, that RN, Karissa Owens, was honored with the DAISY Award last week.
Owens was nominated for the award along with five other nurses, DNP Amy Gammill, RN Annette Wilmoth, LPN Linda Lee, LPN Megan Briggs and RN Melody Oliver. Each was nominated by a patient or colleague who wrote an account explaining why they should receive the award.
Lisa Wallace, NPMC chief nursing officer, read each of the letters during a ceremony Friday at the hospital.
Noting that the letter nominating Owens was handwritten, Wallace said "we live in a day and age of email, of text, of not a lot of written words ... it takes something, I think, for someone to sit down and write out a nomination story to say we see you, we appreciate you, we know what you did."
The letter read, "At the close of 2019, we received an early morning call that my brother was in severe distress. We made the two-hour drive to Hot Springs, arriving just after daybreak. Upon arrival, we met his nurse, who immediately took us into the unit so we could be with him. She patiently explained his condition so we could understand what was happening. She spent her shift taking care of him and keeping us informed of his medical status, his treatment and procedures. Over the next 30 hours, she was rarely away from his side, ignoring her needs to make sure he was as comfortable as possible.
"She had the uncommon ability to have open and caring end-of-life conversations that are often difficult to have and understand. Even though the outcome was inevitably grim, her compassion and devotion to her patient and to us was spiritually uplifting. She made the entire experience, the worst possible situation, a little bit more bearable. She has a God-given gift as a healer and National Park is truly fortunate to have a nurse at the caliber of this nurse," it continued.
"It's taken me an entire year to discover her last name in order to recognize and nominate her for the DAISY Award, hence the fact that it's a year old. Noon today marks the one-year anniversary of my brother's death, so I feel it's fitting to submit this nomination, in recognition of an extraordinary nurse like Karissa Owens on this Dec. 31 of 2020. Thank you, Karissa."
Video not playing? Click here https://www.youtube.com/embed/LHvtx6P87sQ
https://www.youtube.com/embed/RK8DfdeyH2o
Calling the award an honor, Owens said, "I'm just speechless that I can make that much of an impact on someone. I love my job, I enjoy my job. I think it's amazing that I get to help people in their hardest times, but to be able to not only help my patient but to help their family through a hard time to, it's just really cool and it's rewarding.
"I don't need this stuff. I get rewarded with my job as it is, but this is amazing that I was given this opportunity."
A committee of nurses chose the winner and committee member Crystal Miller explained why Owens won.
"We don't get recognized a lot ... especially in ICU because your patients really don't remember that much, so the fact they remembered ... that's huge," Miller said.
"When you come in and somebody's, especially their last moments, and that nurse or whoever, can make that person feel more comfortable, or more at ease with their family member dying, that's rare. It doesn't happen very often, and to have such compassion, I don't know how to word it, because I've been on the side to where they're not compassionate and they don't know how to explain and walk you through that process. To have someone who can walk you through that process and help ease the way is remarkable," Miller said.
Several other staff members at the hospital praised Owens. Mandy Golleher, NPMC director of marketing and communications, said, "Oh man, she's just fabulous, and not just as a nurse. Anytime I'm shooting a recruitment video, she's the first one to step up."
"I think she was very deserving," Wallace said.
Jewell Briggs, ICU director, said "I love it. She's very deserving of every bit of it."
The DAISY Award is presented twice a year at hospitals the size of NPMC. This was the second time the award was given at NPMC, with Matt McFarland winning the first one in November last year. Golleher said the next DAISY Award will be presented this November.
