EXTRAORDINARY NURSES RECOGNIZED AT UNC Lenoir Health Care

               August 15, 2019, Kinston, NC– Nurses at UNC Lenoir Health Care are being honored with The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses ®. The award is part of the DAISY Foundation's mission to recognize the extraordinary, compassionate nursing care they provide patients and families every day. 

               Our most recent DAISY Award recipient is Caroline Jones Lanier, BSN, RN.  Caroline has been a nurse at UNC Lenoir for 3 years and has worked in the Emergency Department and in the Ambulatory Care Unit.  Caroline is known as a nurse who is caring, compassionate and selfless.  She is a true humble servant and this example is one of many that demonstrate why she is a DAISY recipient. 

Caroline was working on the Ambulatory Care unit one day when she received a call for help from one of her colleagues on another unit.  A young patient was very sick and placed on comfort care.  As you can imagine, this was very distressing to the entire health care team.  As time got closer, the primary nurse reached out to the chaplain.  Knowing it may be a while before the chaplain would arrive to the patient room, the primary nurse reached out to Caroline and requested comfort and support for the patient and family.  Without hesitation, Caroline came to the patient’s bedside ready to provide comfort to the patient and family, but verbalized she may cry in doing so.  The patient representative told her she was only human and it was completely acceptable to cry. Caroline calmly and peacefully entered the room, introduced herself to the patient and family and held the patient’s hand.  A feeling of warmth entered the room with Caroline’s presence and she said a quiet prayer to the patient and family.  A Code Grace was called, and Caroline joined the team in singing to the patient as she took her last breath.  Caroline’s face was red and her eyes were filled with tears, but she was able to compose herself to say a word of prayer after the patient’s passing.  The strength, compassion and humility of this act, to a patient she had never met before was heartwarming to everyone in the room.   It is extraordinary acts like this one that made Caroline the selection for this month’s DAISY Award.

               The DAISY Foundation is a not-for-profit organization, established in memory of J. Patrick Barnes, by members of his family.  Patrick died at the age of 33 in late 1999 from complications of Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), a little known but not uncommon auto-immune disease. (DAISY is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System.)  The care Patrick and his family received from nurses while he was ill inspired this unique means of thanking nurses for making a profound difference in the lives of their patients and patient families.

               Nurses may be nominated by patients, families, and colleagues.  The award recipient is chosen by a committee at  UNC Lenoir Health Care to receive The DAISY Award. Awards are presented throughout the year at celebrations attended by the Honoree’s colleagues, patients, and visitors.  Each Honoree receives a certificate commending her or him as an "Extraordinary Nurse."  The certificate reads: "In deep appreciation of all you do, who you are, and the incredibly meaningful difference you make in the lives of so many people."  Honorees also receive a DAISY Award pin and a beautiful and meaningful sculpture called A Healer’s Touch, hand-carved by artists of the Shona Tribe in Zimbabwe.

               Said Bonnie Barnes, FAAN, President and Co-Founder of The DAISY Foundation, "When Patrick was critically ill, our family experienced first-hand the remarkable skill and care nurses provide patients every day and night. Yet these unsung heroes are seldom recognized for the super-human, extraordinary, compassionate work they do.  The kind of work the nurses at UNC Lenoir Health Care are called on to do every day epitomizes the purpose of The DAISY Award.”