LVMC ER Nurse Recognized with Award for Extraordinary Care

Lompoc Valley Medical Center Registered Nurse Miranda Linares has been recognized with The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses. The prestigious international award is part of The DAISY Foundation’s mission to recognize the extraordinary, compassionate nursing care provided to patients and families every day.

Miranda is a Registered Nurse in LVMC’s Emergency Department and has worked at LVMC for four years.

Nominated by a patient’s mother, she was recognized for her professionalism and kindness. According to the nomination, the patient was a 12-year-old girl who needed a spinal tap just before Christmas last year. Miranda, the nomination noted, “kept my daughter and I calm (and) even made my 12-year-old laugh in a time of high stress. She made it ok.”

The mother stated that she does not drive and was frantic about getting to Cottage Hospital when her daughter was transferred for a higher level of care. Miranda quickly found transportation for the mother, who said her “emotions were all over the place” as she imagined not being able to be with her daughter in another town.

Miranda “made that hospital ER time better and as good as it could be … (She) was kind and made me feel seen and understood my worries and eased them.”

The appreciation goes even deeper for the parent.

“This nurse acted fast and could be the reason why my child got to see another birthday,” the parent wrote, mentioning the youngster turned 13 a few weeks after her ER visit. Her daughter, she added, “is doing great due in part to this nurse’s fast actions.”

“You can truly see she loves being an RN and is very smart and loving,” the mother wrote.

Miranda began her healthcare career at the age of 16, volunteering in an Emergency Room in Riverside County. She later became a CNA, then an LVN and eventually earned her registered nursing degree at Santa Barbara City College.

“I love helping people,” said Miranda, the mother of a 4-year-old son. “I find it really rewarding. I like having a lot of knowledge and I don’t like when something’s not right. I like to find the answers to things.”

She said she likes working in emergency medicine because of the fast pace.

“Everything’s always changing. You never know what you’re going to get, but you’ll always have a story to tell when you leave here.”

Since moving to Lompoc, she said she’s found she really loves the area.

“It’s just a really good community,” she said. “It’s just local and we’re a family here. I feel like even though I didn’t grow up here, I definitely have a family here.”

The not-for-profit DAISY Foundation was established in memory of J. Patrick Barnes by members of his family and honors nurses for making a profound difference in the lives of their patients and patient families.

Patrick Barnes died in 1999 at the age of 33 from complications caused by ITP, or Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura, an auto-immune disease. DAISY is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System. The foundation was inspired by the care Patrick and his family received from nurses while he was ill.

Nurses are nominated by patients, families and colleagues. Miranda also received a DAISY Award pin and a sculpture called A Healer’s Touch, hand-carved by artists of the Shona Tribe in Zimbabwe.

More information about the award is available at daisyfoundation.org. To nominate a nurse at LVMC, Lompoc Health or the Comprehensive Care Center, see the nomination form at lompocvmc.com, under the Resources tab and Patient Feedback link.