By Meladi Brewer

DailyAdvocate.com

GREENVILLE — Christina Danyell Locke is Wayne HealthCares’ Fall DAISY Award recipient.

The DAISY Awards recognizes outstanding nurses in more than 2,000 health-care facilities, in all 50 states and 15 countries around the world. It is a way for patients, co-workers, and family members to honor the sacrifices and commitment of a well deserved hero who gives their all selflessly for the safety and betterment of complete strangers.

This year’s recipient, Locke, was deserving of her recognition and came highly praised both by her parents and fellow staff members.

“She is very deserving of this award. She is a hard worker, definitely a patient advocate, and she always puts the patent first,” Kim Freeman, VP of Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer said.

Freeman continued to say Locke is a team player who works well with her coworkers, and doctors, patients, and she herself trusts her. With 23 years of experience, Locke humbly agreed that being a nurse is a team effort.

“It feels great to be recognized. I feel truly blessed, and I could never do it without my team,” Locke said.

Locke said the ER has been through a lot of changes, but it is all about teamwork.

“It truly is all about teamwork: leaning on each other and helping each other. It takes a team to do what we do,” Locke said.

The patient who nominated Locke for the award shared a testimony on how she showed “exemplary service” during their visit.

“The ER was very busy and things were moving quickly, but not once did she make me feel rushed,” Freeman said via testimony. “Every time me or my partner heard another ER employee calling out for help or asked questions, she was always there to help with a smile on her face and compassion in her tone.”

The patient continued to say Locke made them feel genuinely cared for and heard with her as their nurse, and it was evident “Locke always cares about her patients through the delivery of the equal quality, unwavering amount of care no matter who the patient is or how busy she was”.

“It makes me feel good to make a difference in people’s lives and know that I have helped them to make them feel better,” Locke said.

Wayne HealthCare has been partaking in the DAISY Awards for five years as a way to recognize their extraordinary nurses within the organization for their contributions to the community and patients. Freeman said the award is chosen based off the person’s character instead of name

“There is a panel that helps select the winner, but it is a blinded nomination process in regards to selecting goes,” Freeman said. “We blind out their name, so when they go in, they don’t know who the person is. They just know the story, and they know the situation.”

Freeman said it makes it a more genuine approach, as they are really focusing on the differences the nurse made. She said all of our nurses that work here are very committed to the patient, and this is just a nice way to be able to recognize them for their efforts.

Nominations are accepted all year round via online or by paper form at the hospital, and Wayne Health presents the award twice a year. Recipients receive a custom hand-carved stone sculpture entitled A Healer’s Touch from Zimbabwe.

They will get a DAISY Pin to proudly wear, a certificate, opportunities for continued education, cookies from Aunt Julie’s Cookies, and cinnamon rolls from Beanz.

“Cinnamon rolls are a classic for the DAISY award, and they have to be present at every presentation,” Freeman said.

The cinnamon rolls are a way to honor J. Patrick Barnes. The DAISY foundation was formed in 1999 in memory of Barnes who died of complications of the auto-immune disease Idiopathic Thrombocytopenia Purpura at the age of 33.

“He requested cinnamon rolls be given to the nurses, so it is something specific to the DAISY Awards,” Freeman said.

DAISY is an acronym for diseased attacking the Immune System, and was created by Barnes’ parents in the memory of their son after experiencing first hand the impact a nurse has when providing extraordinary care and compassion to a patient and their family.

Congratulations to Locke on her recognition, and to all the other hardworking Health-care heroes who work hard every day for the betterment of others.

To contact Daily Advocate Reporter Meladi Brewer, email [email protected].