Hess Honored with DAISY Award for Special Act of Kindness

Providing patients and their loved ones the best care and experience is what every Bayhealth nurse strives for every day. Sometimes our nurses go above and beyond to make this happen – like Bayhealth Critical Care Unit Nurse Christine Hess, BSN, RN, PCCN, who was recently honored with a DAISY Award in recognition of her special act of kindness for the family of one of her patients.

As Hess’s coworker who nominated her for the DAISY Award shared, when the patient was put into comfort care leading up to his end of life, Hess was there for him. “Christine was a key piece to the care that this man needed, not only for himself during his last days, but for his immediate loved ones as well,” she wrote in her DAISY Award nomination.

When the patient’s wife and their son came to visit him at the hospital, the nursing team noticed how the wife, who was deaf, and the patient would sign “I love you” to each other. Hess recalled how one of Bayhealth’s Labor & Delivery team members made memory mold keepsakes for patients who experienced a loss of a newborn, and decided to reach out to her to see if she could make a mold for this patient’s family. The Labor & Delivery team member said she could and took the mold of the patient’s hand shortly after the family said their last “I love you”s and goodbyes.

“What made this even more special was that Christine was able to shape his hand into the sign language position for ‘I love you’ which he and his wife had used oh so often,” wrote Hess’s coworker. “The wife and son were so grateful for this gift from us. It touched our hearts that they were so appreciative and that we were able to give them something to remember him by. None of this would have been possible without the compassion and thoughtfulness of Christine.”

The DAISY Award is given by the DAISY Foundation, which was formed in 2000 by the family of J. Patrick Barnes. The Barnes family wanted to recognize the nurses who cared for Patrick and all the other “unsung heroes” of the nursing profession.

DAISY Award honorees are chosen by nurses, administrators, peers, physicians, volunteers, patients, and family. If you know a Bayhealth nurse who deserves to be nominated, visit Bayhealth.org/DAISY and fill out the nomination form.