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Sarah Strauss, RN, Post-Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU), recently bonded with a patient battling COVID-19 while volunteering in the Special Pathogens Unit (SPU). On the patient’s last day on the unit, Sarah threw him a birthday celebration. Sarah’s teammates were so inspired by her generosity and creativity that they nominated her for a DAISY Award. Sarah recently received the award in a surprise ceremony on her unit. Read the nomination below.

“Sarah is one of our PACU team members who volunteered without hesitation to deploy to the SPU to help our Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) colleagues care for our COVID patients. While we have been limited with respect to  contact with these folks, we are constantly getting feedback from them. Usually it's just to say how they miss PACU, to thank us for the gift baskets we've been sending them, or to tell us that they're doing OK and hanging in there.

“Occasionally, we get emails from them about each other ... how they are all learning new things and doing great with building bridges with the MICU team. On this occasion, one of our PACU RNs reached out to us about Sarah and told the following story (copied directly from the email):

“’Hey, I don't have a card to complete, but I wanted to give a shout out to Sara Bromberger Strauss. She had worked with a COVID patient for multiple shifts, he had been intubated for several weeks, and she was able to care for him through his extubation. On the day before he was transferred out to 5 South, it was his birthday, and she gathered balloons and a group of the staff to sing ‘Feliz Cumpleaños’ (‘Happy Birthday’ in Spanish). She is such a caring RN, and I am always impressed with her compassionate care.’

“This exemplifies Sarah's personality, style, and compassionate and fun nature to perfection! In fact, when we read this email we said that we could SO see Sarah doing this! Finding balloons ... who does that?!!  Sarah does.

“Sarah does this sort of thing every day for her patients, for her colleagues, and for this organization. There is no one like her, and we are all enriched by her caring, kind, smart, fun loving manner. She exemplifies UVA nursing at its best, and is worthy of consideration for the DAISY Award.”

Nomination edited for clarity.

Know a fabulous nurse?
The Professional Nursing Staff Organization honors up to two UVA RNs each month with a DAISY Award. Nominations may be submitted by patients, patient families, visitors, and fellow UVA team members. Learn more at uvadaisy.com.