Providence Medical Center, Kansas City, Kan., continues to
honor its extraordinary nurses with the DAISY Award. The hospital’s most recent
DAISY Award winner is Janie Smith, R.N., B.S.N., I.B.C.L.C.
Smith was selected from a field of registered nurses
nominated by patients, families, co-workers, physicians and volunteers at the
hospital. She received a certificate commending her for being an “extraordinary
nurse.”
She also received a beautiful
and meaningful sculpture called A Healer’s Touch, hand-carved by artists of the
Shona Tribe in Africa. Cinnabons also were given to all the nurses on her unit
thanking them for everything they do for their patients and families.
“My husband is active duty military and was leaving for
Afghanistan in January. Our daughter was born on Dec. 6, 2011 and we were in
Providence until Dec. 8,” explains the patient who nominated Smith. “Not only
was Janie a big help with breastfeeding, but when we told her about my husband
and how he had to leave the day after Kyndel was born, she took pictures of us
together so he could take them with him back to Ft. Riley. It meant a lot that
someone cared so much about us in such a delicate situation.”
“I was very moved by this particular patient’s
circumstances,” Smith says. “She had just given birth that day and her husband was
supposed to be home on leave for the next month to spend time with his family.
But he received orders to report to Ft. Riley immediately. He was being
deployed to Afghanistan. All I could think was that this dad would be thousands
of miles away from his new family, so I took several pictures of them together
that he could take with him.”
When Smith received the DAISY award, she was thrilled and
touched by the gesture.
“I was really shocked,” Smith says. “For the family to
have nominated me was very touching. The response from our staff was awesome.”
Smith has more than 30 years of experience caring for
mothers and their babies at Providence. She provides an important continuity of
care for breastfeeding mothers.
In addition to her role as an on-site
breastfeeding consultant, Smith improves the health status of the community by
her involvement in the Wyandotte Health Council’s community baby shower,
serving on the Providence Mission Council and participating in health fairs.
Smith also is the 2010 recipient of the Mother and Child
Health Coalition’s Breastfeeding Support Award for an individual, and was
selected the Providence Associate of the Year in 2007.
She is certified by the International Board of Certified Lactation
Consultants.
Smith received her degree in
registered nursing from Kansas City, Kansas Community College, and her bachelor
of science in nursing from the University of Kansas School of Nursing.
Smith resides in Kansas City, Kan. with her husband. The
couple has one daughter, one grandson, a stepdaughter and stepson, and nine
step grandchildren. She enjoys gardening, walking and spending time with her
family.
