St. Francis Health nurses offer extraordinary compassion in difficult situations

INDIANAPOLIS -- For Kathy Chesney and Jacki Stroud, nursing is far more than a career. It's a calling that transcends providing more than just medical care to their patients.

To that end, these registered nurses are being saluted as the most recent recipients of DAISY awards, presented by Franciscan St. Francis Health.

Chesney, who works at the hospital’s Beech Grove campus, is credited for assisting a distraught outpatient who had returned in desperate need of post-surgical supplies. “She took care of the lady with much sincerity and kindness,” a peer recalled. “Kathy went out of her

way to turn this situation around and the patient left with the supplies she needed – very happy and thankful.”

Stroud was nominated by the husband of a woman admitted to the labor/delivery unit at the hospital’s Indianapolis campus. It was a difficult delivery; tragically, the infant was stillborn. “My self-confidence was wavering,” he wrote. “But watching Jacki’s steadfastness and hearing her calming voice encouraged me to stay in that room.”

The DAISY Award was established by the DAISY Foundation in memory of

J. Patrick Barnes who died at 33 an auto-immune disease. His family was

so impressed by the clinical skills, caring and compassion of the nurses who cared for him that they created this national award to say “thank you” to nurses everywhere. For more information, go to www.daisyfoundation.org.

To learn more about nursing careers and programs at St. Francis, go to www.stfrancishospitals.org/nursing.

Kathy Chesney (l) and Jacki Stroud display their recent DAISY Awards.