May 6—Sierra Marling

Hayley Strong, BSN, RN, has been named Baptist Health Richmond's most recent DAISY Award recipient for her work as a nurse in the Intensive Care and Critical Care unit.

The DAISY Award is an international program that rewards and celebrates the extraordinary clinical skills and compassionate care given by nurses every day.

As a DAISY Award Hospital Partner, Baptist Health Richmond recognizes one nurse with this special honor quarterly.

In a nomination form submitted in Hayley's honor, the wife of a former patient said she made him feel "safe, secure in his care, respected, and cared for."

The nomination continued to express great gratitude at the "amazing" care her spouse received, adding that it gave her the assurance that he would be in great hands when she had to leave him at the end of the day.

The patient's spouse valued Strong's ability and patience in answering questions as well as her cheery attentiveness.

"My husband's nurse was amazing. She took care of his every need...I was in the room both days and she always walked in with a smile and never walked out without making sure we didn't need anything. She always told us if we needed anything at all to not hesitate to ask," the nomination read.

Strong, who was thankful to receive the award, noted that she chooses to be considerate of others because she knows it's the right thing to do and because that is how she would want her family to be treated.

"If it were my [family,] I know I would want to be treated with dignity and respect, and that goes a long way with a lot of people," she said.

Her dedication seemed to shine through to her nominee, as the nomination concluded with the following thought:

"I have always believed there are nurses that choose the career because they truly care for patients. Hayley is certainly one of those nurses. He is my greatest love, and Hayley, I am so grateful he had you there."

"I've always really aspired to be the kind of nurse who touches my patients' lives. Sometimes you only get 12 hours to do so, but sometimes that's all you need," Strong remarked.

Strong's heartfelt nomination captured the essence of the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses, which was created in memory of J. Patrick Barnes who died at 33 of ITP, an auto-immune disease.

Barnes's Family was awestruck by the clinical skills, caring and compassion of the nurses who cared for Patrick at the time, so they created this international award to say thank you to nurses everywhere.

To nominate a nurse for the DAISY Award, visit: http://www.daisynomination.org/0017000001MfitGAAR.

To learn more about a career at Baptist Health, visit: https://www.baptisthealth.com/careers.