A nurse from TRMC was recently honored 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.

Through nominations by patients, visitors and co-workers, a nurse is selected periodically by a special committee to receive The DAISY Award. DAISY is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System.

The recipient of the TRMC DAISY Award is Shayla Giddens, RN in the Tift Regional Medical Center inpatient wound care department. Shayla was nominated by Annsley Mathis, assistant nurse manager of the wound care department who states, “When you think about words defining an extraordinary nurse, words like compassionate, professional, educator, honest, committed, comforter, and integrity often come to mind. Shayla is the epitome of all these words. She is an extraordinary nurse that goes above and beyond for her patients, their families, guests and co-workers on a daily basis.”

In her nomination, Mathis continued to explain how passionate Shayla is about patient care and the way she connects with all her patients on an individual level.

Shayla found out one of her most special patients was extremely ill and had to be air lifted to Emory. “He underwent emergent surgery and ended up recovering exceptionally well. Shayla discovered that the patient and his parents were planning to make a trip to Disney World so the patient could experience the new Star Wars theme park. However, the trip had to be cut short due to the patient’s increasing medical bills and financial circumstances,” said Mathis.

When Shayla learned that the patient and family would not experience their trip as planned, she was determined to make it happen for them. Shayla worked with a local charitable organization who assisted in funding a three-day trip to Orlando so the patient and his family could enjoy the theme park before Christmas.

“Shayla is a blessing to so many patients and families,” Mathis said. “I personally know she is the type of nurse I want taking care of me because she is amazing in so many ways.”

“We are so proud of Shayla for receiving this award. She is a fine example of all the great nurses we employ at Tift Regional, who do extraordinary things for our patients and their families every day,” said Carol M. Smith, Senior Vice President, Acute Care and Chief Nursing Executive, MBA, RN, NEA-BC.

The DAISY Award was established by the DAISY Foundation in memory of J. Patrick Barnes, who died at age 33 of an auto-immune disease. The Barnes Family was awestruck by the clinical skills, caring and compassion of the nurses who cared for Patrick, so they created the national award to thank nurses everywhere.

One day while Patrick was in the hospital, he asked his family to bring him a Cinnabon® cinnamon roll plus enough for all the nurses in his unit. The DAISY Foundation carries on this tradition by serving cinnamon rolls prepared by the TRMC Food and Nutrition team to all the nurses in the award recipient’s unit in thanks for everything they do for their patients and families.

“A large celebratory banner is also displayed in the recipient's unit for a month, generating very positive conversation about the special role nurses play in patient care,” Smith added.