TRION, Ga., Nov. 13, 2025 – The compassionate care nurse Rob Wade showed to a patient at the Atrium Health Floyd Chattooga Emergency Department was noticed by the patient’s mother.
“He was the best nurse I have encountered in years,” the woman wrote, nominating Wade for a DAISY Award. “His level of compassion and professionalism far exceeded any I have experienced in over 20 years. His friendly bedside manner put my son at ease. It takes a lot to ease his anxiety, yet this nurse made my son laugh.”
She also said Wade was born to be a caregiver. “Floyd is lucky to have such a gifted and amazing employee,” she added.
The family of Patrick Barnes established the DAISY Foundation after Barnes died from an auto-immune disease while being treated in a Seattle hospital.
Sheila Bennett, senior vice president and chief of patient services at Atrium Health Floyd, presented Wade with a DAISY pin and a sculpture entitled “A Healer’s Touch.” Members of the Shona ethnic group in Zimbabwe hand-carve the sculptures.
The nurse and his teammates were also treated with cinnamon buns, a DAISY tradition because it was one of the few things Barnes could eat while he was hospitalized.
“There’s so many things y’all can be proud of here,” Bennett said to the team at the emergency department Trion. “It really means a lot when patients and family members take time to nominate someone. This mom was convinced that this nurse was the best one they had ever encountered.”
Wade said he was humbled by the award and stressed that it is always a team effort at the emergency department.
“It really takes everybody,” Wade added. “Respiratory, radiology, nurses, doctor and management…everyone does a fantastic job.”
If you know an Atrium Health Floyd nurse who provided exceptional care of you or a loved one, you can nominate them for a DAISY award by completing this online form.
The emergency department, celebrating its second year of operation, is open 24/7 and serves Chattooga County and Walker County in northwest Georgia, as well as northeast Alabama. It is staffed by an onsite board-certified physician.
The emergency department is also the headquarters for Atrium Health Floyd’s second mobile mammography coach, which serves northwest Georgia and northeast Alabama.