Making a world right side up

Hospital visits can sometimes be filled with uncertainty and stress, but remaining collected and calm is achieved thanks to outstanding nurses and caretakers. Patients have the chance to show their appreciation to those who helped them by nominating nurses for the DAISY award.

Greater Regional awarded Carrie Wood the DAISY award for fall during Nurse Appreciation Week. Patients submit nominations for the award anonymously for exemplary nurses based on their time under their care at Greater Regional. For this year’s fall awards, 14 nurses were nominated.

Wood is a registered nurse at Greater Regional’s urology department headed by Dr. Jonathon Fialkov. She’s worked as a nurse for 26 years, with five years at Greater Regional.

The patient who nominated Wood describes how, after a CT scan, Wood encouraged them to immediately come to the ER in Creston, calmly explaining to “pack a bag as well.” Wood had checked on the patient after her shift was over and kept the patient’s family informed about the patient’s condition.

The nomination states, “I had been diagnosed with colon cancer and felt my world was turned upside down. She has checked on me numerous times through out my journey and continues to be one of the best nurses around. Carrie deserves this award, her compassion for caring for others needs recognition! I will never be able to repay her for getting me to do the CT scan and then making sure I came into the ER that day.”

Wood understands how the work done in her department can cause stress for patients. “We take care of people during some of the most terrible times of their lives,” she said. “The patients depend a lot on the nurses for the continuity of care.”

When describing her work with the patient, Wood said a major part of her actions was making sure there was an understanding of how important treatment was, and encouraging further care despite other factors in the patient’s life.

Wood credits her family, with her mom, aunts and sisters being nurses as well, with helping inspire her to pursue nursing. She credits her mom as one of the largest sources of inspiration, having worked with her as a nurse’s aide. Wood said watching her mom work with patients to help them feel more comfortable was a major turning point for her.

“I could see how she was able to help people be more comfortable during some rough times for the patient,” she said. “I thought, wow that’s pretty cool to be able to help people like that. I wanted to be like that.”

When Wood received the award, she said she felt “shocked,” especially in comparison to the other nurses nominated. “I don’t feel like I did anything different than I do every day,” she said. “I feel like that’s part of what a nurse should do is take care of their patients. To the patients, we mean a lot.”

In regards to the other nurses, Wood said all of the nurses nominated deserved the award. “They’re all amazing, I’ve worked here for five and a half years, I’ve worked with all of those nurses that were nominated, they’re all outstanding,” she said. “Hearing all the stories and knowing these nurses, I feel very fortunate that I received the award, they all deserved it.”

Wood said she had a “passion for urology” which stemmed from her time initially working with the urology department at Greater Regional about five years ago. Her father had been diagnosed with prostate cancer, and had come to the hospital for treatment.

“He passed a year and a half ago,” she said. “As a family member and as a nurse, I’m very passionate about helping the cancer patients. Especially if someone is not a medical person, they don’t always understand the treatments and options available. I make it my thing to help them if I can because I know how hard it was on my family.”

The award signifies her work was able to make an impression on someone, and said she feels “honored.” She still thinks every nurse nominated deserves the award.

“I was able to make an impression on a patient and help them, and they thought that much to nominate me. It’s made a difference to someone,” she said. “But, there’s a lot of people that do the same thing I do, that don’t get honored, it’s unfortunate. Hopefully, they will.”