Simple Act of Kindness Leads to DAISY Award
ROME, Ga., March 13, 2025 – Kelsey Correll, a registered nurse in the cardiac stepdown unit at Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center, knows that no one wants to be in the hospital during the holidays. So, when a patient in her 90s found herself there, Correll did her best to offer comfort any way she could.
She gave the woman a Christmas card, not knowing how much it would mean to the patient and her family.
The patient was later moved to ICU, where she passed away on Christmas Day. Her son said he forgot to get the card when his mother was moved. He found Correll and asked if he could have it. He said his mother cherished Christmas cards and had collected a box of them over the years.
One year, Correll bought cards for every patient on her floor on Christmas Day.
“I feel like the nurse was called to do this," said Sheila Bennett, senior vice president and chief of patient services at Atrium Health Floyd. “The son came and approached the nurse and asked for the card, so she made a difference. She made a difference that day in that patient's life."
“Any little thing we can do to make it a little bit easier for patients is important, and we know nobody wants to spend their holidays with us," Correll said. She was named a DAISY Award recipient Wednesday because of her compassion.
The family of Patrick Barnes established the
DAISY Foundation after Barnes died from an autoimmune disease while being treated in a Seattle hospital.
Bennett presented Correll with a DAISY pin and a sculpture entitled “A Healer's Touch." Members of the Shona ethnic group in Zimbabwe hand-carve the sculptures.
The nurse and her teammates were also treated with cinnamon buns, a DAISY tradition because it was one of the few things Barnes could eat while he was hospitalized.
If you know an Atrium Health Floyd nurse who provided exceptional care to you or a loved one, you can nominate them for a DAISY award by visiting
floyd.org/DAISY and completing the online form.
Correll has been with Atrium Health Floyd for 10 years. She graduated from the University of West Georgia and Cedartown High School.
About Atrium Health Floyd
The Atrium Health Floyd family of health care services is a leading medical provider and economic force in northwest Georgia and northeast Alabama. Atrium Health Floyd is part of Charlotte, North Carolina-based Advocate Health, the third-largest nonprofit health system in the United States, created from the combination of Atrium Health and Advocate Aurora Health. Atrium Health Floyd strategically combined with Harbin Clinic in 2024 and employs more than 5,200 teammates who provide care in over 40 medical specialties at four facilities: Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center – a 361-bed full-service, acute care hospital and regional referral center in Rome, Georgia; Atrium Health Floyd Polk Medical Center in Cedartown, Georgia; and Atrium Health Floyd Cherokee Medical Center in Centre, Alabama; and Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center Behavioral Health, also in Rome. Together, Atrium Health Floyd and Harbin Clinic provide primary care, specialty care and urgent care throughout northwest Georgia and northeast Alabama. Atrium Health Floyd also operates a stand-alone emergency department in Chattooga County, the first such facility to be built from the ground-up in Georgia.
About Advocate Health
Advocate Health is the third-largest nonprofit, integrated health system in the United States, created from the combination of Advocate Aurora Health and Atrium Health. Providing care under the names
Advocate Health Care in Illinois;
Atrium Health in the Carolinas, Georgia and Alabama; and
Aurora Health Care in Wisconsin, Advocate Health is a national leader in clinical innovation, health outcomes, consumer experience and value-based care. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Advocate Health services nearly 6 million patients and is engaged in hundreds of clinical trials and research studies, with
Wake Forest University School of Medicine serving as the academic core of the enterprise. Advocate Health is nationally recognized for its expertise in heart and vascular, neurosciences, oncology, pediatrics and rehabilitation, as well as organ transplants, burn treatments and specialized musculoskeletal programs. Advocate Health employs more than 160,000 teammates across 69 hospitals and over 1,000 care locations and offers one of the nation's largest graduate medical education programs with over 2,000 residents and fellows across more than 200 programs. Committed to redefining care for all, Advocate Health provides more than $6 billion in annual community benefits.