News

The DAISY Award is presented monthly to an All Children's Hospital Nurse that has provided extraordinary service to our patients -- Kristen received her award at the DAISY Award Recipients recognition event.

The mother of one of Kelly's patients recently wrote:  

Kristen Kelly isn’t just a “good” nurse. Kristen is a “great” nurse. She saved my son’s life two days ago.

Aiden was admitted to the floor for what seemed to be a viral illness. Unknown to us during the vomiting, Aiden had a tear in his stomach lining. After some time and some very dramatic symptoms, Aiden vomited a massive amount of blood. His blood pressure dropped, he was not coherent and the immediate thing our nurse needed to work on was getting Aiden’s IV fluids running fast. Just ten minutes before that, our doctor decided to order some heavy antibiotics “just in case” he became septic. The bleed, however, became the most important focus but not to Kristen. She knew Aiden was being transferred to the PICU and she could have waited to hang the antibiotics since they weren’t sent from the pharmacy. She was working so fast that her hands were ripping open bags of fluids, grabbing pumps and answering calls. She maintained beautifully calm to me but you can tell she had a mission. After the bolus was hung, she called for the antibiotics stat. They were sent and she had them hung with in minutes. She cared for Aiden all the way to PICU stayed with him and personally hung the second antibiotic herself. This saved his life.

We didn’t know at the time he was actually septic. If she would have waited and not gone above and beyond, we are certain our child would have died. Just hours later, Aiden didn’t recognize his own father, he was delirious and into septic shock. Thank God Kristen hung the bags just in time. It was 12 hours later that Aiden begin to turn a corner. I cannot stress enough how thankful I am for getting this amazing nurse in my child’s care.

Thank you Kristen for being so quick, for going the extra mile and then more. Aiden is now sitting with me playing with legos laughing and smiling. You gave us a second chance with our child. Thank you!

Kristen's director Cindy Driscoll added:

Kristen demonstrates the service excellence principles on a consistent and ongoing basis in her daily practice. She is an extremely competent nurse, able to handle any type of patient care situation and she does so while always remaining calm. Families often comment on her caring approach and can do attitude.

Thank you Kristen , and congratulations!