Kayla Swilling, Lactation Consultant, RN, Recognized with DAISY Award

A nurse at Parkwest Medical Center was honored today with The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses. The 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 Kayla, an RN, in childbirth for being recognized with the DAISY award. Kayla was nominated by a patient for providing tips and techniques to help nurse her baby and making a difference in her patient’s life.   

Kayla’s Nomination

“I want to give a shout out to a very wonderful lactation consultant. During my hospital stay, I had many nice nurses and lactation consultants that came to pay me visits to help me nurse my baby boy. I had all kinds of different approaches, tips and techniques to use. I was given all very good advice from many knowledgeable professionals. I was then slowing learning to nurse my baby boy properly, but I was still yet failing to do so. Every three hours when it was time to nurse him it would take me anywhere from one hour to two hours to nurse him. I would bleed, burn and hurt the whole time. They kept telling me how it wasn’t supposed to hurt but somehow I just could not do it right.

It was during my last night at the hospital that I met Kayla. In approximately 45 minutes to an hour she gave me a very thorough lactation full course that completely changed my nursing experience.

I was about to give up nursing my baby boy because every time I tried not only was it physically hurting me but I was also failing. My baby boy was going four to five hours without nourishment and I was getting discharged the next day. Not knowing what to do, I thought it was best for me to stop trying to breastfeed him because it was obviously not working.

All the other professionals (nurses and lactation consultants) were giving me good information that was very helpful, but Kayla listened to my problem, understood the issues, and explained how to fix them one by one. She patiently and kindly took her time with me. She educated me about how to increase my milk supply, how properly to express and obtain milk and walked me through how to nurse my baby boy in a way that was no longer painful. There was no more bleeding or burning. She completely turned everything around for me and my baby boy and for that I will be forever thankful to her. She will always be remembered as one of the professionals who made a difference in my life.”

To nominate a nurse today visit www.TreatedWell.com/DAISY.