San Juan Regional Health

San Juan Regional Medical Center would like to congratulate Raychel Stiegelmeyer and Emmy Vasquez for being named DAISY® Award Recipients. The DAISY® Award is an international recognition program that celebrates nurses for the compassionate care they provide patients every day. 

Raychel is a nurse who works on the Medical and Behavioral Health Units. She has a special gift for connecting with patients. An example of this was during a shift when she cared for an autistic patient. She used therapeutic communication to build trust with the patient, and even sought out advice from the patient’s mother so she could understand the best way to assist this patient.

“She put herself in the mother’s shoes and encouraged her coworkers to do the same,” her manager Vickie Bessey said. “She conveyed to me how important it is for us to care for patients who absolutely cannot care for themselves. 

Raychel also made a big difference when caring for a suicidal patient. She was able to have a meaningful conversation with the patient, and even provided the patient with a journal to use to help manage emotions. The patient was very grateful for the time Raychel spent and could tell she really cares about her patients.  

“My calling is definitely in psychiatric care and being able to put myself in someone else’s shoes when they are in their hardest days,” Stiegelmeyer said. “No matter what, we are here to provide the best care possible for our patients when they are in a vulnerable state.”

Emmy Vasquez is an ICU nurse who is dedicated to helping her patients heal. She is also dedicated to helping their family members cope during a difficult time. One family nominated Emmy for the DAISY® Award for the care she provided to their father. He had been in the ICU for several weeks, was very sick, and did not have a good prognosis.  

“Emmy was so invested in my dad getting better that she even came in on her day off to check on him,” the patient’s daughter said. “Having someone take such good care of my dad helped me through that difficult time in my life.”

“Normally patients don’t remember us or see us because they are sedated, but we remember them,” Vasquez said. “In this case, I would come in every morning and we would pray together. I would tell them to stay hopeful, we are going to do our best to get you through this, and he did. It’s very exciting for us to see a patient graduate from the ICU.”

Help us celebrate our nurses for the excellent care they provide. Share your gratitude by nominating a deserving nurse for a DAISY Award at www.sanjuanregional.com/daisy.