Give it up for nurses Mandy Clark, Jennifer Bond, and Elizabeth Lewis – the newest recipients of the Prestigious DAISY Award.
Established by the family of J. Patrick Barnes, who passed away in 1999 from an autoimmune disorder at the age of 33, the DAISY Award honors nurses for the care they give. Patients, families, and co-workers can nominate a nurse for this honor.
So what does DAISY stand for? Disease Attacking the Immune SYstem.
So what did each of these heroes in nurse’s uniform do?
Lewis’s nomination came from the daughter of a critically ill patient. The daughter said that Lewis was exceptional in the way she took time to answer questions from every member of the patients’ large family, and was helpful in getting the patient into hospice when it was needed.
“She never faltered,” said Lewis’s nominator. “She attended to my father with the utmost care and integrity.”
The nomination for Clark came from a co-worker in recognition of the care she took of a family which lost their baby shortly after birth. Clark made the call to take photos of the baby when a photographer couldn’t be reached, offering the family the ability to remember their child.
Clark’s nominator wrote. “These parents now have over 300 photos of their child to cherish because of Mandy advocating for them.”
Bond was nominated by a former patient for her extraordinary work keeping their family up-to-date with the care they were receiving. “She even told them in front of us, so we knew they had been informed,” the nominator said. “She listened to our needs and took care of them promptly.”
Each recipient of the award received a hand-carved Healer’s Touch sculpture from Shona artists in Zimbabwe, reduced tuition from Chamberlain University College of Nursing for continuing education, a special rate for the renewal of their nursing certification, and the ability to apply for the Cherokee Nursing Conference Scholarship to fund their attendance at nursing conference as a means to support their career advancement.
If you would like to nominate a nurse for this award, you can go to the Samaritan Health DAISY Award website.
By Sally K Lehman
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