DAISY Award Winners
Have you witnessed a nurse going above and beyond to support patients and their families? Nominate them today for the DAISY Award.
Naomi Aldred, RN
Cath Lab, Prep/Recovery
Lynae Moor, RN
Family Birth Place
Elizabeth Brassington, RN
Congratulations to Elizabeth Brassington, RN, who recently received the DAISY Award for exceptional nurses. Elizabeth was chosen for this award for her quick thinking and leadership when responding to a patient experiencing cardiac arrest in the parking lot.
Marina Matveychenko, RN
Having surgery is an uncertain experience. For most patients, it’s a time filled with questions and worries. When one of our patients faced this challenge, she found support and comfort in Marina Matveychenko, RN, our latest DAISY Award recipient.
As this patient faced major surgery for the first time in her life, Marina brought peace and hope by answering every question. She replaced fear with confidence by consistently sharing what would happen next and what to expect.
"I came into the hospital scared,” says the patient. “Now I’m leaving confident in how to take care of myself because of Marina.”
"I'm so thankful for Marina and how she uses her knowledge, skill and compassion to make a meaningful difference in a patient’s experience," says Cindy Nutter, chief nursing officer. "I'm proud to share that she has been selected as our latest DAISY Award recipient."
Nguyet Nguyen, RN
Nguyet Nguyen, RN, brings a secret weapon to work with her each day. It helps her navigate the stress and challenges of her work, but also makes a meaningful difference to her patients and coworkers. When Nguyet used her secret weapon, prayer, to calm the storm one of her patients was experiencing she set off a chain reaction of inspiration and hope. Nguyet is the recipient of the DAISY Award, given to honor nurses who go above and beyond to support patients and their families. Nguyet was nominated for the DAISY award by a coworker who witnessed her providing emotional and spiritual support that transformed the experience of a patient. “She was so patient and attentive, trying to relieve his anxiety when she could have done the minimum necessary. Thank you for encouraging prayer in your ministry.”
Sarah Hedden, RN
Sarah was nominated by her peers for showing commitment to the whole person well-being of patients. This made all the difference in the world for one patient, and his family; Sarah sensed the family's greater need and took courageous action.
Megan Keyser
Her personal and caring approach on the medical unit is one of the driving forces in Megan’s work as a registered nurse. “When I had my first child I was really impressed with my care team,” she says when describing what led her to a career in nursing. “I wanted to part of those intimate moments for patients and families.”
Megan says the team she works with encourages and inspires her commitment to excellent patient care. “Our nurses and CNAs are the best,” remarks Megan. “I strive to be a great RN because of the people I work with.”
While Megan brings a personal passion to her work, she finds it’s a shared value with her team members. “People really care here,” says Megan. “Every patient is everyone’s patient and we all do whatever we can to help them. I think the patients and their families see that difference.”
Jessica Lee
Because of her skillful and compassionate care when a patient needed it most, Jessica, a registered nurse from Family Birth Place, was nominated by one of her team members and selected for the DAISY Award.
When a patient arrived in Family Birth Place after a failed attempt at a home birth Jessica was assigned to her care. Hoping for a completely natural delivery, this mother was experiencing fear about being in the hospital and having the birth she wanted.
Jessica quickly established a trusting relationship with this patient, calmly and firmly reassuring her through each contraction over the next several hours.
“When this patient arrived I could tell things were getting out of control for her,” Jessica says. “I told her we could put her back in control, but it was going to take her full trust in me and my full trust in her.”
Thanks to Jessica’s diligence and determination to provide top notch care, this patient achieved the unmedicated delivery that she so strongly desired.
“All of us had tears in our eyes as this delivery came to an end,” recalls one of Jessica’s team members. “It was an incredibly intense and emotional experience for all of us.”
Denise Montgomery
As a charge nurse in our Emergency Department, Denise Montgomery is often the first face of Adventist Health for patients who enter the unit by ambulance. She is also the person team members rely on as they navigate the numerous and unpredictable cases in a given shift. Staff say that when Denise is working it’s “her ED.”
Because of her leadership, support and skill, team members nominated Denise for the DAISY Award. She is our first recipient for 2017.
Calm and Professional
“One day recently was especially difficult,” says a coworker. “A patient had coded, several mental health patients were boarding in the unit, there were more patients than staff and team members were working to hunt down the equipment they needed. With all these pressure points the unit was calm, quiet and professional (thanks to Denise’s influence).”
Denise achieves a calm and healing environment in her ED by demonstrating care and compassion to patients and the team she works with.
Experienced Care
Denise has been an Adventist Health team member for 17 years. One of her earliest memories of Adventist Medical Center is coming here at age five, when her brother was born. Denise was also born here and volunteered as a candy striper when she was a teen.
She has worked as an MA at Rockwood Urgent Care and the Vascular Lab before becoming a nurse and spending the last eight years in our ED. Denise says a favorite part of her job is the team aspect of providing critical care for patients.
“It takes everyone to get the patient through a crisis,” she says. “Someone once told me ‘It’s not your emergency. It’s the patient’s emergency.’ Our job is to be the calm and stabilizing presence that helps them through this time.’”
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Meggan Chapin
The mission of Adventist Health calls each team member to live God's love by inspiring health, wholeness and hope. Throughout His ministry Jesus was known for healing physical pains, but His greater work centered on providing comfort, love and empathy to those in need. When presented with a patient whose physical condition was beyond repair Meggan Chapin, RN, medical unit, fulfilled our mission by providing care, comfort and support that went far beyond clinical action steps.
While caring for a patient with multiple debilitating conditions, and about to have a feeding tube placed, Meggan asked if there was anything else she could do. As it turned out, the patient wanted to see the full moon and enjoy one last hamburger. Working with her charge nurse, and other team members, Meggan was able to arrange for the patient to be taken to our helipad to enjoy a hamburger under the full moon with their family. The patient passed away the following night.
“When a patient has requests like this our team loves to do what we can to help them,” Meggan says. “I just asked how we could make this request happen.”
By listening and acting Meggan allowed our team to fulfill a dying patient’s last request and create a final memory their family will never forget. Thank you, Meggan, for your extraordinary example.
Maylin Warda, RN
For demonstrating our mission to live God’s love by inspiring health, wholeness and hope Maylin Warda, RN, is our latest recipient. Her patience, compassion and grace made a profound difference in a patient’s life. Maylin has been a nurse for 25 years and working at Adventist Health Portland since 2001. “I avoided nursing for a long time,” she laughs. “My mom was a nurse and I wanted to do something different, but the more I thought about it the more I realized it fit my personality.” That personality is driven by helping people. “I love the interaction with patients and team members this job gives me.” Maylin says. “I tried working in a leadership role, but went back to bedside work because I missed the direct interaction with my patients. The healing ministry Adventist Health focuses on is what I want to follow.”