Chelsea Clarke Is September's DAISY Award Recipient

It was the Fourth of July.

Progressive care nurse Chelsea Clarke, BSN, RN, was looking forward to an evening of fun and fireworks following her 12-hour shift.

Toward the beginning of that shift, a man suffering from abdominal pain was brought to the Emergency Department.

“It was found to be ischemic colitis,” Clarke said. “And due to his age, frailty and some comorbidities, he was not a surgical candidate.”

Eventually moved to the PCU, the man, accompanied by his daughter and son-in-law, had his first interaction with Clarke.

“He was just so sweet,” Clarke said. “Despite the way he was feeling, he was so positive and upbeat.”

But his health began to decline rapidly. He was transferred to the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit, where his care team worked feverishly to improve his condition.

Having spent nearly all of her shift by the patient’s side, Clarke still chose to stay late. She continued to coordinate care and helped family members make sense of their loved one’s situation. While she maintained her composure through most of her interactions with the family, the gravity of what they were going through became too much for her to bear.

“We saw tears in her eyes when we found out he might not live,” the family wrote in a letter of appreciation.

Clarke attempted to explain her emotions: “It is so hard to look at somebody and say, ‘OK, this is it.’ There’s so much we can do in medicine, and it’s just hard when there’s …”

Clarke paused in an effort to hold back the same tears her patient’s family described.

“There’s just so many things we can do,” Clarke continued. “And to have to tell a family there’s nothing we can do – it’s painful.”

“He died hours later,” the family wrote, “but she made him feel so cared for the entire time, which was such a blessing to us!”

For her unyielding compassion, the patient’s family nominated Clarke for the DAISY Award.

Humbled by the gesture, Clarke was sure to credit her fellow PCU nurses, who provided backup on some of her other patients that day.

“All so I could give the appropriate focus and care to this particular family,” she said.

It takes a village, Clarke said of The Meaning of Care. Everyone has a role. And on that Fourth of July, Clarke knew that hers was to put her own holiday plans aside and focus on what her patient needed most as he entered his final resting place.