10/23/2026
🌼 October Daisy Award Honoree -Amber Moran, RN 🌼
I would like to nominate Amber Moran, a nurse on 7B at Memorial Hospital at Gulfport, for the DAISY Award in recognition of the extraordinary care, compassion, and kindness she showed my 87-year-old Daddy and our entire family during his hospitalization from August 27 through September 6, 2026.
My Daddy had been battling long-term dementia, and our family was already facing an incredibly difficult and uncertain time. During his hospitalization, we were told that it was not safe for him to return home. Suddenly, my family was faced with having to make decisions we never expected to make.
We spent time visiting nursing homes, trying to determine where Daddy could safely go after discharge. After visiting several facilities, my Mom made the decision to bring him home because the facilities we visited could not provide some of the safety measures we felt Daddy needed, including bed rails and bed alarms. We believed he would be safer at home with us.
Then one evening, everything changed.
Thanks to Amber's quick thinking, attentiveness, and immediate action, a Rapid Response Team was called when Daddy developed a high fever and his blood pressure dropped drastically. Within moments, the room was filled with medical professionals caring for Daddy. I will never forget Amber preparing my Mom and me for what could happen and helping us understand what was taking place while everything around us seemed to happen so quickly.
Daddy was diagnosed with aspiration pneumonia and soon stopped eating and drinking altogether. The following day, we were told that he needed to be transferred to hospice. We came into the hospital thinking we were trying to get Daddy well enough to go home. We never imagined that we would be leaving with him on hospice. That realization was devastating.
Through those days, Amber provided much more than excellent nursing care. She cared for my Daddy with genuine compassion, and in doing so, she cared for all of us.
Amber was kind, patient, caring, and compassionate in every interaction. She took the time to make sure my Daddy was comfortable and treated him with dignity and respect. But there is one small thing she did that will stay with me forever: she called him “Papa”.
She never came into the room without talking to him, even though she knew he might respond with something none of us could understand. She talked to him anyway. She told him everything she was doing - from taking his vital signs to helping reposition him in bed. Even when she was simply stopping by to check on him, she spoke to him and included him. She treated him as though he could understand every word. And perhaps, in his own way, he did.
What stood out to me most was Amber's knowledge, confidence, and willingness to carry out an extraordinary plan of care. She was not afraid to advocate for my Daddy or provide the level of care he needed, even when that care went beyond what might be considered routine. She demonstrated exceptional clinical knowledge while never losing sight of the person behind the illness.
Amber exemplified the highest standards of nursing. She combined clinical excellence with something equally important: humanity. She made an incredibly painful experience a little easier simply by being present, compassionate, knowledgeable, and willing to do whatever was needed for my Daddy.
There are nurses who care for patients, and then there are nurses who truly care about their patients and the people who love them. Amber was that nurse for our family.
Daddy passed away five days after being transferred to hospice, and I know that I will carry the memories of those final days with me for the rest of my life. When I think about that difficult time, I will remember the fear, the uncertainty, and the heartbreak, but I will also remember Amber walking through that hospital room, talking to Daddy, calling him “Papa,” making sure he was comfortable, and making sure we were okay.
She gave our family something we desperately needed during those final days: the comfort of knowing that someone else was caring for our Daddy with the same compassion and dignity that we would have given him ourselves. For that, our family will be forever grateful.
Amber Moran is not only an exceptional nurse; she is an exceptional human being. She represents the very heart of what the DAISY Award is meant to honor, and I cannot think of anyone more deserving. We will never forget the way she cared for my Daddy and supported us during some of the hardest days of our lives. She is exactly the kind of nurse the DAISY Award was created to recognize, and I am deeply grateful that my father had the privilege of being in her care.”
Thank you, Amber , for the exceptional care you provide our community.
