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Karen Soper, left, nurse manager; Meleah Mariani, chief nursing officer; Jeannetta Roberts, ICU charge nurse; and Drew Dostal, hospital president.
Jeannetta Roberts receives DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses
LUDINGTON — Registered nurse Jeannetta Roberts, was named the latest recipient of the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses at Corewell Health’s Spectrum Health Ludington Hospital. Roberts is a charge nurse in the ICU (intensive care unit) and has worked at the Ludington hospital since 1998. She was nominated by a patient’s daughter.
“My dad was hospitalized for pneumonia,” the nomination stated. “He was moved from general hospitalization to critical care suddenly. The onset of his illness was sudden and serious. No one in the family has a medical background. Jeannetta was so kind, caring and helpful. She was available to answer questions about my dad’s status and explain the terminology and machines. She was also extremely caring and sympathetic. She made sure to check on us, giving us hugs when we needed it and made sure we were comfortable. Jeannetta was not my dad’s nurse throughout the length of his stay, but she always made sure to say hi to us and check how we were doing when we went to visit him. Sadly, my dad passed from his illness. The day that he was removed from life support she made sure to let us know how much she cared and show how sorry she felt for our situation. It has been a terribly difficult time, but one that was made a bit easier by her care, concern and knowledge. We will always be thankful to her.”
At a small ceremony held at the hospital to celebrate Roberts being named the DAISY Award recipient, she said she is grateful for the nomination for the award. “I was very surprised when my manager told me that I had won the Daisy award,” Roberts said. “I am grateful that God has blessed me with such a wonderful career, and I’m so appreciative of the family for taking the time to nominate me. As a nurse, I continue to meet and have the opportunity to care for the most amazing people, from WWII fighter pilots to a single father raising teenage sons. All of my patients and their families are very important to me. Being in the hospital can be a very scary and stressful experience, and if I can provide just a moment of encouragement and comfort to ease the stress that is rewarding enough.”
Karen Soper, the hospital’s nursing manager, has worked with Roberts for as long as she has been a nurse at the hospital. “Jeannetta is a highly experienced and competent nurse and has a great bedside presence,” Soper said. “We hire for competence and caring, so all our nurses are skilled and show empathy for their patients. Jeannetta fits the name and the spirit of the DAISY Award; she is an extraordinary nurse in all ways.”
“One detail that stood out to me from what the daughter of Jeannetta’s patient wrote,” said Meleah Mariani, chief nursing officer at Ludington Hospital, “is that they didn’t have any medical background and it was helpful that Jeannetta explained the terminology and machines. So often, we assume that those we are serving understand the jargon and the technology being used. But that’s rarely the case. I commend Jeannetta for her empathy and caring, but also for her communication skills. All of this is important as we work with patients, families, visitors and each other.”
The not-for-profit DAISY Foundation is based in Glen Ellen, California, and was established by family members in memory of J. Patrick Barnes. Barnes died at the age of 33 in 1999 from complications of Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), a little known but not uncommon auto-immune disease. The care Barnes and his family received from nurses while he was ill inspired this unique means of thanking nurses for making a profound difference in the lives of their patients and patient families.
Nurses are nominated for the DAISY Award by patients, families and colleagues, and they are chosen by a committee of nurses at the hospital. Awards are given multiple times a year, with each honoree given a certificate and a sculpture called “A Healer’s Touch.”
Online nominations can be completed at www.spectrumhealth.org/Ludington by clicking on the DAISY Award section at the bottom of the page. At the Ludington hospital, nomination forms and boxes are also at all nurse stations, in lobbies and in the medical offices.
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