Shelby Chumley knew what to do, and for an elderly couple at Floyd Medical Center, that made all the difference.

A 90-year-old woman was being treated for the flu and her husband, 93, was worried. Chumley, a registered nurse at Floyd, showed the compassion and clinical skills that are hallmarks at Floyd. As a result, she was named the DAISY Award winner at Floyd for the first quarter of 2018. 

DAISY, or diseases attacking the immune system, is an award recognized internationally and pays tribute to the bedside care provided by nurses. It was established by the family of Patrick Barnes after he died from an auto-immune disease while being treated in a Seattle hospital. His family was thankful for the care he received.

“We were very distressed because of my wife’s condition, and this young nurse was very knowl-edgeable and although busy, the nurse took time to explain the situation and reason for all that was being done for my wife,” the woman’s husband stated in Chumley’s nomination letter for the award. “We were very anxious and somewhat lost. This nurse’s caring, upbeat attitude in this life-threatening situation was a tremendous help. She made us feel like we were her number one pri-ority,” he continued.

Chumley, who has worked at Floyd for about a year, said she was surprised by the award during a ceremony on June 4 at the hospital. “It’s overwhelming,” she said. “I definitely didn’t expect to win.” She received a DAISY pin and a sculpture entitled “A Healer’s Touch,” hand-carved by an artist of the Shona tribe in Zimbabwe.

​Sheila Bennett, Executive Vice President and Chief of Patient Services at Floyd, presented the award to Chumley and congratulated her and the other DAISY nominees who attended the cere-mony. Fifty-six other nurses were also nominated for the award.