The Peru Gazette

PLATTSBURGH, NY – A Registered Nurse who helped a patient get through her struggles away from home has been honored as the latest recipient of The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses at The University of Vermont Health Network-Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital (CVPH). Elizabeth Trudeau, BSN, RN was presented the award during a surprise ceremony with her Med/Surg and Oncology team.

Trudeau is CVPH’s 20^th staff nurse to receive the honor since its inception in 2018. She was nominated by former patient Caitlyn Perham, who spent more than a week at the hospital receiving care from Trudeau. Perham wrote in her nomination that it was starting to get to her that she could not be home with her dogs. She credits Trudeau for helping her during a tough time in her life.

“Elizabeth helped me get through it with her smile and respectfulness every day,” Perham recalls in her nomination. “She made me feel like I wasn’t in the hospital as much as she could. I truly appreciate and respect that.”

She also notes that Trudeau provided great care for her family and friends whenever they came to visit, adding that the second-year nurse always made sure visitors were comfortable and had everything they needed. Perham says Trudeau even helped her have an important talk with a friend’s daughter. When it came to pain management, Trudeau was said to be on top of her game as well.

“She always made sure I was comfortable and helped me find ways to help with pain other than medication. I had high blood pressure, and she always was concerned and got on the phone with the doctor to see if she could give me my blood pressure medications early,” Perham says.

Trudeau, known as “Lizzie” by her colleagues on R5, has continued to learn and grow professionally since joining the team as a graduate nurse in August 2022. And she is helping educate co-workers. Trudeau attended an Oncology Nursing Society Congress conference earlier this year, bringing back information to collaborate with Jill Kanaly-Demers, RN from Palliative Care to present a Lunch and Learn regarding health care proxies and filling out Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (MOLST) forms.

“Lizzie’s selfless support for her patients is praiseworthy, whether she is working to save a life or provide comfort at the end of life. She consistently puts her patients first. Lizzie was made to be a nurse. Her patients, their families and our community are lucky to have her,” says CVPH Nurse Manager Nicole Daniels, RN.

“You can tell she is the type of person who is here because she loves people and loves taking care of people,” Perham adds.

During the award presentation, Trudeau was presented with a certificate commending her as an extraordinary nurse. Like all honorees, she also received a DAISY Award pin and a beautiful and meaningful sculpture called “A Healer’s Touch,” hand-carved by artists of the Shona Tribe in Zimbabwe.

CVPH launched the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses in 2018 to recognize and reward licensed nurses for making a meaningful difference in the lives of their patients. Nomination forms and boxes are located at the hospital’s main entrances and online at UVMHealth.org/CVPHDaisy. Patients, families, and colleagues may nominate nurses.  A committee reviews nominations and awards a deserving nurse each quarter.

The award is part of the DAISY Foundation’s mission to recognize the extraordinary, compassionate nursing care they provide patients and families every day. The DAISY Foundation is a national not-for-profit organization established by J. Patrick Barnes’s family members in memory of him. Patrick died at the age of 33 in late 1999 from complications of idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), a little known but not uncommon auto-immune disease (DAISY is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System). The care Patrick and his family received from nurses while he was ill inspired this unique means of thanking nurses for making a profound difference in the lives of their patients and patient families. More information is available at DAISYfoundation.org.

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