The Baptism Outstanding Story of Care The request came late in the evening: A patient in the Intensive Care Unit had confessed his Christian faith and wanted to be baptized by his pastor. With our patient near death, his family had rejoiced at this answer to decades-long prayers, and the baptism would complete the requirement of their faith. According to their belief, this sacrament requires the receiver to be completely immersed in water. Our patient’s rapidly declining physical condition, coupled with the complex medical care he was receiving, proved to be a challenge. And, time was of the essence. Over the course of the next few hours, Floyd staff members demonstrated heroic compassion and an exemplary dedication to personal dignity to meet these spiritual and emotional needs. They obtained medical clearance, located a portable baptistery, outfitted a lift to help lower the patient into the water and, finally, provided the medical support necessary to grant our patient this final wish. Just 19 hours after the initial request, everything was in place. With family, friends and Floyd caregivers gathered around, the sterile safety of the Intensive Care Unit was temporarily transformed into a chapel of the holy. There, in the presence of this cloud of witnesses, the frail body of this husband, father, son and friend was eased beneath the surface of the water, while his pastor recited the words important to his faith: Based on your confession last night that Jesus is God’s son, I baptize you in the name of the Father, the son and the Holy Spirit, for the remission of your past sins. God bless you.
The DAISY Award is an international award recognizing the care and compassion given by bedside nurses. Founded by the family of Patrick Barnes and given in his memory to honor the best of nursing. DAISY is an acronym adapted from the medical issue that took Patrick’s life, “diseases attacking the immune system.” “Our goal was to ensure that nurses know how deserving they are of our society's profound respect for the education, training, brainpower, and skill they put into their work, and especially for the caring with which they deliver their care,” said Mark Barnes, Patrick’s father.
An Opportunity to Learn
Curtis Hatcher, a Medical Surgical registered nurse, helped a patient withdrawing from narcotic pain killers. “He showed me true, caring compassion, which to me, was more important than my physical care,” the patient said. “He completely changed what
began as a negative event into an opportunity where I learned to accept where I was and to feel able to continue healing at home.”
Ability to Communicate
Stephen Hopkins, a registered nurse in the Intensive Care Unit, received DAISY recognition for his care of a patient and his hearing-impaired spouse.
Stephen made sure the patient’s wife understood everything and that she received care every day.
“He watched everything around him and just handled what came at him,” a family member of the patient said. “My mom's routine was to stay at the bedside for six to eight hours per day. When Stephen sensed she was upset or not sure about what was going on, he stopped to talk with her, sit with her and watch many tears.”
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