Deborah Scott is known within her family for being fearless. She’s always enjoyed spontaneous journeys, especially when she had her dog of 14 years by her side. “Me and Reesie, we’d just get in the car and take off and drive around,” she says. One day she and Reesie, a beagle shepherd, made it all the way from Indianapolis to Texas, driving straight through.

When a car accident this January sent the 75-year-old adventurer to Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital with a broken kneecap, she was rattled. She didn’t want others to have to take care of her. “I’ve always been very independent,” she says. “I’ve been single for 40 years.”

She’s also used to being in charge. After starting a branch of a commercial driver's license (CDL) driver staffing company in Indianapolis, Scott says she eventually expanded to Louisville, Cincinnatti and Columbus, with about 50 drivers working for her before she retired.

Lying in bed in a hospital room with no control over her environment was not an easy adjustment for the former area manager. “You’re just exposed out there in the open all the time,” she says.

Luckily for her, one face was familiar. She’d met Yetta “Roz” Wolen, a staff nurse in Eskenazi Health Acuity Adaptable, ten years before through her son Robert’s job in a local restaurant. Soon Wolen would set about ensuring that her old friend had the best care possible.

“She is a real advocate for the patients there,” says Scott, adding that Wolen acted like a “second mom” to her son, who was worried about her condition.

Scott says she felt uncomfortable requesting assistance, but the nurses on Wolen’s team made her feel at ease. “They were always so pleasant and [would] say, ‘We’ll be there in a minute,’ and they always were,” she says, adding, “Their bedside manner is so very important to your recovery.”

The comfort her nurses provided became especially important to Scott when she experienced a setback: Months into her recovery, an infection sent her back to the hospital for two more surgeries. “It was all pretty devastating since I was almost healed when all this happened, so I had to start all over,” she says.

During her second visit to the hospital, Scott was thankful to Philip Clapham, M.D., MPH, an infectious disease specialist, who “came in faithfully every day to check on me,” she says, “and that was impressive.”

The caliber of care the nurses gave her on this visit struck not only Scott, but her sister, Sharon Dallas, who was visiting from Texas. “She has been around hospitals,” adds Scott. “She saw a difference when it came to Eskenazi [Health].” “When she left,” Scott says, “she felt like she was leaving me in good hands with the nurses.”

Before Dallas departed, she worked with Scott to record the names of and begin to write nominations for nurses for DAISY Awards, an international nursing recognition for extraordinary service. In their nominations, Dallas praised the “wonderful care and kindness that was extended

to my baby sister” and Scott wrote to thank “all my special angels with Roz leading the way!” Ultimately, the sisters would co-honor 16 nurses and Dallas would individually honor one and Scott six more.

Scott’s medical team offered her a treat during her hospital stay in addition to the care they provided: multiple visits from the Robert & Gina Laikin Pet Therapy Program at Eskenazi Health. “I loved the day they brought in the dogs,” Scott says. “Oh my gosh, they were so sweet. That cheered me up while I was there.” In fact, the therapy dogs, especially the labradoodle mixes, made such an impression that Scott, who lost Reesie last year, is now looking into adopting a doodle mix herself.

With the support of friends and family, Scott continues to recover. She’s using a walker now and was recently given good news on her progress. The former area manager, always appreciative of hard workers, is happy she did what she could for the nurses who assisted her. “I don’t think they get enough recognition for what they do,” she says. “They want to know that what they’re doing makes a difference in someone’s life, so I wanted to let them to know how much I appreciated their kindness to me.”