Melanie Crosley, RN, a nurse in the Emergency Department at TUH-Main Campus, recently received the DAISY Award for nursing excellence. Crosley was recognized for her extraordinary empathy and compassion towards her patients, as this excerpt from her DAISY nomination shows:
“Melanie is a more recent hire to the department, but in her short time here, she has shown herself to be a very kind and professional nurse. Today, EMS brought in a patient who had been assaulted prior to arrival and required emergent care. The patient’s wife arrived shortly after, and, from speaking with her and the police department, we discovered that the couple had come from Venezuela seeking asylum. They had been transferred to multiple states throughout the U.S., but ultimately ended up in Philadelphia. The patient had gone to look at housing for his family to start a new life. While he was there, he realized that it was a scam and was assaulted and robbed of the only money he had. His wife had a 10-month-old baby with her when she arrived at the hospital.
Melanie, along with other staff members, assisted with contacting social work, obtaining nutrition for the mom and the baby, and escalating the situation to leadership for further assistance. Everyone’s heart was in the right place. However, Melanie took that extra step. While she was assisting the mother so she could talk to social work, she checked the baby’s clothing size. Melanie then went and ordered two full bags of clothing online and had them delivered to the Emergency Department. She walked them over and handed them to the mother, who was very grateful. Melanie did not tell anyone she was doing this. She just knew that, as a mother, she would wish someone would help her and her child if she was in a similar situation.”
The DAISY Award was established in memory of J. Patrick Barnes, who passed away from an autoimmune disease. The Barnes family was awestruck by the clinical skills, caring, and compassion of the nurses who cared for Patrick, and created this international award to say thank you to nurses everywhere.