Mat-Su Regional Nurses Receive Daisy Award for Providing Excellent Care

8/25/2020

By Katie Stark

PALMER – Mat-Su Regional Medical Center celebrated two extraordinary nurses who were nominated for the Daisy Award for the exceptional care they provided patients and their patients’ families.

Kayla James, RN, from the Intensive Care Unit, and Rebecca Rathbun, RN, from the Family Birthing Center, were both honored May 28. James was nominated for her work in caring for an organ donor patient and family, and Rathbun for how she cared for a patient during her first moments as a mother.

The Daisy Foundation has been recognizing extraordinary nurses all over the world since 1999 when the award was established by the family of Patrick Barnes, who spent eight weeks in hospitalization before passing away from the autoimmune disease Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura.

“Our goal was to ensure that nurses know how deserving they are of our society's profound respect for the education, training, brainpower, and skill they put into their work, and especially for the caring with which they deliver their care” said Mark Barnes, father of Patrick Barnes.

Rathbun has been working at Mat-Su Regional for six and a half years. Her journey into nursing began when her sister, who was a Type 1 Diabetic, received subpar care at the hospital she was being treated at.

The experience was enough for Rathbun to change her major from Criminal Justice to Nursing.

“I kind of looked at that and thought ‘I can do better,’” she said.

She was nominated for the Daisy Award by the mother of an obstetrics patient who was impressed by the compassion Rathbun gave her daughter.

“As a first-time mother, my daughter was confused, scared, unsettled, and uncertain. Scared to sleep, not sure how to breastfeed and certainly unfamiliar to motherhood,” the nomination letter read. “As I watched this nurse interact with my daughter and grandson I began to weep. A light of assurance washed over my daughter that was unbreakable.”

Rathbun enjoys her job for the help she can provide mothers and their families. She especially loves working with new mothers and being an advocate for them during labor.

“I like seeing families being born, especially when it’s the first time,” she said.

James, a lifelong Alaskan and a Mustang from Chugiak High School, has been working at Mat-Su Regional since she became a nurse five years ago. She compared her early days before nursing to the Adam Sandler movie “Water Boy” when she was the manager of her high school football team. Most of her job involved providing first aid to the players, which combined her two loves: football and caring for people.

James was instrumental in helping her donor patient’s family through the process of saying goodbye to their loved one. She believes the Honor Walk is a vital part of giving the patient respect and the family closure.

“They’ve lost their loved one, but at the same time it’s such a giving act,” James said. “I work really hard to make sure the Honor Walks are as big and as important as they are.”

James was nominated for the Daisy Award by Life Center Northwest, a nonprofit organ procurement organization who operates throughout Alaska, Washington, Montana and North Idaho.

Life Center Northwest’s nomination letter read: “As a direct patient care RN, Kayla showed extraordinary compassion and patience to the family of our organ donor. She went out of her way to ensure they understood the process and every step of the way she made sure they were cared for. She was tender with their loved one and made changes to the room to make the family more comfortable. She supported them in their grief and laughed with them to ease their pain.”

Rathbun and James are among a handful of Mat-Su Regional nurses who have been nominated for the Daisy Award since it was implemented at the hospital in 2019. If you are a patient or a patient family member who would like to nominate a nurse for the care you have received, visit matsuregional.com/daisy-award-nominations for more information.

Kayla James, RN, from the Intensive Care Unit receives the Daisy Award on May 28 at Mat-Su Regional Medical Center. She was nominated for the award for the compassionate care that she showed towards the patient and family involved in an organ donation experience.

Rebecca Rathbun, RN, from the Obstetrics Unit receives the Daisy Award on May 28 at Mat-Su Regional Medical Center. Rathbun was nominated for the award because of the supportive guidance she gave to a first-time mother in her care.

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