Seven registered nurses at Jacksonville Memorial Hospital were recognized for their adaptability during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the nurses – all members of the nonprofit hospital’s post anesthesia care unit and ambulatory surgery teams – were asked to serve as intensive care unit nurses.

“We were experiencing a COVID-19 surge and we did not have enough ICU beds or ICU nurses to provide care to the critically ill COVID-19 patient population,” said Leanna Wynn, vice president and chief nursing officer at Jacksonville Memorial Hospital. “These nurses and their families made sacrifices so they could work 12-hour shifts, night shifts and weekend shifts during the holiday season so our patients could receive care.”

The nurses who received DAISY Awards were Sadie Coursen, Marissa Lindsey, Laura Ward, Kali Gutierrez, Jessi Evans, Cassidi Ladely and nurse manager Jamie Smith. They were honored for their contribution to improve safety, quality, coordination and experience of patient care, Wynn said.

“They had to quickly learn new drugs such as sedation and paralytics and ventilator management, along with new skills, such as pressure injury prevention and central line-associated bloodstream infection prevention,” said Wynn. “Yet all of these nurses’ patients received excellent care with zero catheter-associated urinary tract infections and central line-associated bloodstream infections and zero falls.”

The nonprofit DAISY Foundation was established by the family of J. Patrick Barnes who died from complications of an autoimmune disease. Barnes’ family was inspired to create the DAISY Award, which recognizes nurses for providing extraordinary patient care, based on the care they received.