Community nurse Karen Lukovic receives Daisy Award
Community North nurse wins Daisy Award for her positive encouragement and commitment to patient care. Karen Lukovic, R.N., medical/renal/oncology unit at Community Hospital North, received the Daisy Award in February. She was nominated by a patient for the positive lasting impact she had on him.
This particular patient, a young man, was suffering from a MRSA infection in his lower lip and chin. Swollen to nearly the size of a small grapefruit, the fast onset of infection left the patient quite scared, but Lukovic was there to explain the course of action with IV antibiotics, and she was there with him during the incision and drainage. As she continued to care for the patient over the next several days, both patient and caregiver were thrilled when the antibiotics finally took hold and he was able to see improvement on his way to recovery.
“Karen is definitely the most caring individual that I have ever encountered in any of my health care experiences,” wrote the patient in her Daisy Award nomination. “Her commitment to my comfort and recovery has not only lifted my spirit, but also greatly increased the speed at which I believe I have been recovering from my illness.” He went on to say, “Karen deserves a most honorable recognition for her outstanding and extraordinary care during the most enduring time of my life thus far.”
Lukovic believes that answering the patient’s many questions and providing encouragement through his ordeal was just part of her duty as his nurse, but it clearly resonated much more deeply with this patient. “We never know how we are touching a patient’s heart when they are here and we are doing our job,” explains Lukovic. Winning the Daisy Award is a humbling and greatly rewarding honor, she says.
The mother of four, two girls and two boys, received her R.N. degree from Ivy Tech in June 2007 and spent some time as a student nurse at St. Vincent Hospital before joining the Community family in September 2007. Lukovic says she chose the network for the genuine sense of “community” here. “We try our best to meet the patient and family’s needs,” she explains. “I love the support we get from management, our team of patient care supporters, doctors, pharmacist, even the valet! I think we really take the name of community to heart,” she continues. “We work together for the patients’ well being.”
Lukovic, who has called Carmel home for the past 12 years, enjoys the outdoors and bike riding. She is an avid runner with four mini marathons under her belt and plans to run both the Chicago half-marathon and a Community-sponsored race later this fall.
The Daisy Award at Community North is made possible through the generous support of the Community Health Network Foundation. The winning nurse was selected among 65 other nurses who were nominated by patients or families for a Daisy Award during the month of February. Nominations were submitted either by paper or through the hospital’s interactive patient care system, the GetWell Network. From those nominations, Community Hospital North’s nursing directors selected the winning nomination based on the principles of Community’s exceptional patient experience: providing care that is high quality, safe, compassionate, special, and timely.
