On Thursday, May 8, 2008, Vicki Day, was recognized by The Charlotte Observer with the 2008 Nursing Excellence Award. Below is the nomination letter submitted by her supervisor, Beverly Grindstaff, Clinical Program Supervisor.
Community Health Services would like to recognize and nominate one of our nurses, Vicki Day, for the 2008 Nursing Excellence Award.
Vicki came to work in our agency in May 2000 as a Community Health Nurse in our Health In Partnership program.This program provides free preventive care management, health education, medication management, screenings, referrals and individual advocacy services to low-income individuals through community-based nursing clinics.
Over the past 8 years, Vicki has demonstrated a strong compassion for the elderly and homeless populations in which she serves. She visits clients in those forgotten, darkened areas where some folks fear to tread, in hopes of making a difference in someone's life and in essence helping them improve their quality of life.She helps ensure that clients with limited or no resources can get the health care they need.She also helps clients to avoid using the Emergency Department inappropriately, makes sure they are receiving life-saving medications they need, and teaches clients how to care for themselves, especially when they have life-threatening conditions such as, but not limited to, diabetes and chronic hypertension.
For example, one of Vicki's clients is an elderly man who lives alone and is a brittle diabetic.He checks his blood sugar several times a day.Not too long ago he had a stroke and he lost the ability to check his own blood sugars.Vicki patiently helped retrain this man so that he could regain the ability to check his own blood sugars and adjust his insulin accordingly.It would have been easy for Vicki (or anyone else) to just check the man's blood sugar for him; but doing that would have made the man dependent upon others.But by patiently working with this man and helping him re-learn how to care for himself and manage his disease, Vicki helped her client feel empowered to take care of himself, in spite of his challenges his stroke presented.
Vicki brings this same patience, respect, and healing quality to all of her patients. She has earned the same respect and trust from her patients as well, and that is not always an easy feat to accomplish.Many of her patients have no family, no friends, and very little support.She is not only a nurse to her clients, but she is that friend, that family member, and that support.She is a comfort to those who depend on her and her expertise.She reads through the endless letters that her patients receive from various insurance companies, to help them decipher amongst the confusion what it all means. She spends countless hours on the telephone assisting her clients with their Medicare issues until they are resolved.These are just a few examples of her hard work, determination and devotion.
Vicki is but only one nurse. And this one nurse alone has touched the lives of so many.She does it with a smile, without complaint and with the compassion that her patients perceive as a great comfort.There are not enough words that can be used to describe how much we, Community Health Services, appreciate all that she does every day for our community.By nominating Vicki Day, RN for this prestigious award is our way of saying "Thank you".
Vicki was honored at a reception at the CHS offices on May 8. In attendance were CHS Board members Bill Britton and Ron Matthews, as well as the CHS Staff.
