A Different Ending
Story 96

One patient recently shared a story that would likely have a different ending if it weren’t for the dedication of a nurse named Josie Guihama. He told his story in a nomination for The DAISY Award, a national recognition program that honors nurses like Josie for extraordinary care.

At his pre-op appointment, the patient wrote, Josie took his blood pressure and said it seemed high, recommending an EKG. Josie called the patient’s doctor’s office right away and set up an appointment for him in the morning. In an act of memorable compassion, the patient recalls, Josie asked to speak to his doctor and said she would perform the EKG herself.

“Josie was scheduled to be off work, but she put my needs ahead of hers,” the grateful patient shared. Josie immediately performed the EKG and sent it to his doctor. “When he received it, he called Josie to say that she needed to put me in a wheelchair, wheel me to the ER and tell them [that] I was to be admitted immediately,” he recalls.

Josie wheeled him to the emergency department herself, where they provided immediate treatment and testing. “If I had waited until the next morning to go to my doctor’s office, this story might have had a different ending,” the patient said. "Josie may have saved my life. I am grateful for her concern and the care she showed for me. I feel she is an extraordinary nurse!”

Josie works in Outpatient Surgery at Adventist Health Glendale, and was recently honored as the hospital’s monthly recipient of The DAISY Award for the dedication and compassion she exhibited to her nominator.

This award is a small piece of the appreciation that staff and leaders have expressed for Josie throughout the years, says Jinhee Nguyen, Patient Care Executive at Adventist Health Glendale.

“Josie treats each patient as if they’re the only person in the world,” Nguyen says. “In each patient, she sees not just a number or appointment. She sees the whole entire picture.”