Atrium Health Floyd Nurse Helps Family in Time of Need

A single mother and her special-needs daughter found themselves in a tough situation. Their house had burned down. They had to quickly move out of the hotel where they were staying into a mobile home. To do that, they needed the wheelchair ramp from their former home installed at the mobile home quickly so they could move in.

Heather Braden, an RN at Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center who had the daughter as a patient, realized she could help.

“Her house had burned down; she was in a hotel room, and they were kicking her out that day,” Braden said. “What do you do? Who helps people like this?” Braden does.
 
She called her husband, Dana Braden, who is a firefighter in Milton. He has a trailer, and the couple helped move the ramp to the family’s new address so they could move in their belongings.

Because of her compassion, Braden received a DAISY Award at the hospital on Tuesday. The international program recognizes bedside nurses for the exceptional care they provide. A patient or the patient’s family nominates winners of the award.

“Beyond the tangible assistance, the nurse’s gesture provided significant emotional support,” said Sheila Bennett, senior vice president and chief of patient services at Floyd, as she read the nomination. “The act of moving the ramp also symbolized a restoration of some level of normalcy and dignity for the family.”

“This is what the DAISY Award was made for,” Bennett said.

The family of Patrick Barnes established the DAISY Foundation after Barnes died from an auto-immune disease while being treated in a Seattle hospital.

Bennett presented Braden with a DAISY pin and a sculpture entitled “A Healer’s Touch.” Members of the Shona ethnic group in Zimbabwe hand-carve the sculptures.

The nurse and her teammates were also treated with cinnamon buns, a DAISY tradition because it was one of the few things Barnes could eat while he was hospitalized.