DAISY Award Winners: Olivia McLaurine & Joe Healy

Two nurses at Parkwest Medical Center were recently honored with The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses. This award is part of the DAISY Foundation’s program to recognize the superhuman efforts nurses give 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 critical care nurses Olivia and Joe for being recognized with The DAISY Award. They were nominated by a patient’s husband Andy (then fiancé), for the life-saving care they provided.

The Nomination

“My fiancé Linley was to have open heart surgery to replace her valve on August 21. Unfortunately, the surgery was called off to an abnormality and to regroup to see why. A bone marrow biopsy was done. All vitals seemed well intact, and she was given the green light to be discharged. This discharge was planned around 10:15 a.m. I left her CCU room to go get her clothes from the car.

Upon returning to the room Olivia had removed all her IVs and swan tube. Olivia said to come and get her after she was dressed. She closed the curtain and the door to the room. Linley got up and retrieved her suitcase. Upon standing up, she got disoriented, hot and needed air. She went back to her bed, laid down and collapsed. She was in cardiac arrest, no movement, and no breathing. I tried to get her to respond. She did not. I ran around the curtain and banged on the glass door to Olivia and motioned for her to come. She came running in and she was unable to revive her. She hit the “code blue” button. Joe came running in to assist Olivia. They did compressions and got her heart to start back up. It took 6 minutes!!! They also shocked her to get her heart back into rhythm. She ended up with a few cracked ribs and more IVs and tubes inserted to get her stabilized.

I truly know that these two nurses saved Linley’s life and if it were not for their bravery, skills, and timeliness that Linley would not have survived. Linley received and upgrade to her pacemaker with an ICD later that week and was discharged.

Due to these life-changing events, she and I got married that next weekend! We knew life is too short. We are eternally grateful to these two nurses for their heroic help, assistance, and support. Since this event Linley got her open-heart surgery to replace her valve. She continues to get stronger every day!”

The couple was unable to attend the award presentation in person, but were excited to be able to attend virtually and help celebrate Olivia and Joe.

More About the DAISY Award

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