FirstHealth nurse Sarah Cross, LPN, has been recognized with the DAISY Award for her quick action that prompted lifesaving care for a patient at Moore Regional Hospital in Pinehurst.
“Sarah’s persistence and thorough assessment skills caught a STEMI (heart attack) early,” reads the nomination from a co-worker. “Her advocacy and quick action prompted getting this patient to the cath lab. She gives excellent care to all of her patients on a daily basis. Words cannot express the blessing she is to 3 surgical.”
Susan Taylor, R.N., assistant nurse manager for 3 surgical, said Sarah exemplifies who a DAISY Award winner should be.
“She advocates for her patients and delivers compassionate care,” Taylor said. “Sarah goes above and beyond to assist her coworkers and is a true team player. Sarah is a blessing to me and the entire 3 surgical team.”
Cross said nursing is all she ever wanted to do.
“Both of my grandmothers were in the health care field, which initially sparked my interest,” Cross recalled. “As a child, I remember walking around at my grandmother’s house pretending to be her nurse, using her stethoscope and lab coat. Occasionally, I would throw on her glasses to make me feel like a doctor. I thought all doctors had to wear glasses to complete the job.”
Cross said that advocating and providing care for patients and their families during their most stressful times in their lives is extremely gratifying.
“I take pride in knowing I can be a small light during a dark time,” she said. “I truly believe it is where God called me to care for his people.”
Cross is honored to be named a DAISY Award winner but modestly said she was just doing her job.
“I am surrounded by exceptional nurses everyday who have been my foundation with my nursing career,” she said. “The DAISY Award is such an amazing and humbling award that touches my heart so deeply. It’s a moment I’ll never forget.”
The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses was established by the Daisy Foundation, a not-for-profit, based in Glen Ellen, Calif. The foundation was started by family members in memory of J. Patrick Barnes, who died at the age of 33 from complications of Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura, a little-known but not uncommon auto-immune disease.
The care Barnes and his family received from nurses inspired this unique means of thanking nurses for making a profound difference in the lives of their patients and patients’ families.
Today, there are more than 2,800 health care facilities in all 50 states and 17 other countries honoring their nurses with the DAISY Award. FirstHealth of the Carolinas, which includes Moore Regional Hospital, Moore Regional Hospital — Richmond, Moore Regional Hospital — Hoke and Montgomery Memorial Hospital, recognizes an extraordinary nurse each quarter and has since 2014.
For more information on the DAISY Award, or to nominate a deserving nurse, visit FirstHealth’s website.
Feature photo: Sarah Cross, LPN (center) is winner of the DAISY Award for her quick action that prompted lifesaving care for her patient. She is pictured with (from left) Jacklynn Lesniak, DNP, M.S., R.N., NEA-BC, chief nursing officer; Shannon Smith, MSN, R.N., administrative director, med/surg; Susan Taylor, R.N., assistant nurse manager, 3 surgical; and Genteal Pelzer, MHA, BSN, R.N., NE-BC, associate nurse executive, during the DAISY Award presentation.
Courtesy photo/Contributed.
