DAISY Award

Congratulations to

Claudio Alvarado, RN, BSN, CEN

Emergency Department

Claudio receives his DAISY award surrounded by Emergency department colleagues

I am an employee for the Office of Medical Education here at UC Davis, but today I am writing you as a patient’s mother. My son is 2 years old and for the first time we had to take him to the Emergency room due to a very bad allergic reaction to an antibiotic. Although we understand (my mother who is a retiree that worked here for 36 years and myself) the ER is a hard place to keep people “satisfied” due to the amount of patients seen, we still believe that everyone should be treated as if it was themselves or their own family going in for treatment. We had encounters with many of the nurses who did their job but there was one nurse that stood out from the rest. He was stern with us when he needed to be, but was the best pediatric nurse in the whole Emergency Room that we worked with. No one could get my son who was in pain and swollen and only getting worse to be calm enough to take vitals, but this nurse did. When we finally got to the back to wait for a room he came by and spoke to my son to calm him down as we walked by going to assist another patient. When my son had to get an IV put into his arm, there were two nurses who poked him multiple times in his arm, then his foot and then on the other arm before they called this nurse to assist. He got the IV in with one try and doing so while looking right into my son’s eyes and talking him through it and calming him down. We made sure to get his name, Claudio Alvarado, as he left after his shift. We were at the ER from 1pm until about 9:10pm so you can imagine how draining and scary it was for us all. All it takes is for one person to show compassion and that they care. He was truly amazing.

About the DAISY Award

The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses recognizes outstanding members of the nursing community and the very special work they do every day. It was established by the DAISY Foundation in memory of the extraordinary nursing J. Patrick Barnes received when he was hospitalized. (DAISY is an acronym for diseases attacking the immune system.) This nursing recognition award program offers patients, families, and professional colleagues a way to honor nurses for all they do. The DAISY awardees consistently demonstrate excellence through their clinical expertise and extraordinary compassionate care.