Cherokee Whiteman, RN has been recognized as Mercy Memorial Hospital System’s quarterly DAISY Award winner.

The DAISY Award is an international program which rewards excellence in nursing. It was created by the DAISY Foundation to recognize clinical skills, extraordinary compassion and care exhibited by nurses every day.
Whiteman continually demonstrates her commitment to compassionate patient care. This story is only one of many times that she has shown what a true patient advocate is.

Recently, a patient arrived to the preoperative area for emergency surgery due to an extremely urgent situation and time was of the essence. The patient did not have the opportunity to process what was happening, yet she was in severe pain, scared, crying and in complete shock. In addition to those concerns, the patient’s regular surgeon was out of town and she was unfamiliar with the surgeon who would be performing this operation.

Whiteman immediately recognized that this patient was in desperate need of something more important that a surgical intervention – she needed spiritual and human intervention. She sat on the patient’s stretcher, took her hands, looked her in the eye and offered to pray with her. The patient immediately agreed and then Whiteman said a very eloquent prayer and hugged the patient after. With the patient clinging to her nurse, you could see the anxiety leave her face, and she then felt comfortable going forward with the surgical procedure. While Whiteman transported the patient to the operating room she continued to reassure her that she was in excellent hands. She stayed at this patient’s bedside through the period of induction of anesthesia and was with her while she woke up from surgery.
As operating room nurses, there is often not the prolonged time to develop patient relationships, but Whiteman took the few moments she did have and made them count.

“Cherokee knows the importance of slowing down for a minute to really assess what a patient is feeling,” said Michele Sampson, RN, executive director surgical services and anesthesia. “Oftentimes health care providers forget about assessing the patient as a ‘whole’ person, and she saw this as an opportunity to share her experience with her coworkers.”

In addition, Whiteman, as the department’s educator, created a Powerpoint presentation on the importance of spiritual care and partnered with Chaplain Larry Lyons to in-service the surgical services department staff.

Whiteman has worked for MMHS in the surgery department for over six years and has been a registered nurse since 1995. But a career in nursing has been on her mind since high school when she attended classes for becoming a nursing assistant. However, between meeting her husband and having children, there wasn’t time to go back to nursing school until her children were in school full time. She found a job part time as a scrub tech for cataract surgeries, and never looked back.

Whiteman was not only presented her award during a recent staff meeting, but she also received a DAISY Award signature lapel pin and a hand-carved sculpture “A Healer’s Touch.” To further celebrate, staff were treated to Cinnabon’s cinnamon rolls – the scent will remind them of how special they are and how important their work is.

The Erie resident worked for 10 years in the Toledo area before coming to MMHS.

“People care here and I think it’s because it’s a community hospital and that’s what I really value about it,” Whiteman said.

The DAISY Foundation began in memory of Patrick Barnes, 33, who died from complications of idiopathic thrombocystpenic purpura (ITP). The DAISY Foundation is dedicated to funding research to help fight immune system diseases. Since Patrick and his family were touched with remarkable care during his illness, the family made it their mission to recognize exceptional nurses around the country.

Forms for nominations are available on the nursing units and can be completed and returned to the unit for consideration. In addition, an electronic version is available on http://www.mercymemorial.org.