Daisy Award Nominations Now Accepted
Nurses at Boone County Hospital (BCH) are being honored with The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses. The award is part of the DAISY Foundation's program to recognize the super-human efforts nurses perform every day. The award at BCH is co-sponsored by Mercy Medical Center.
The not-for-profit DAISY Foundation was established by family members in memory of J. Patrick Barnes. Patrick died at the age of 33 in late 1999 from complications of Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), a little known but not uncommon auto-immune disease. The care Patrick and his family received from nurses while he was ill inspired this unique means of thanking nurses for making a profound difference in the lives of their patients and patient families.
Nurses may be nominated by patients, families, and colleagues and will be chosen to receive The DAISY Award by a committee of nurses at BCH. This spring an award will be given to one special nurse during Nurse’s Week in May in front of the nurse’s colleagues. The honoree will also attend a formal presentation at Mercy Medical Center, Des Moines, in June where he/she will be honored again with the award alongside other nurses from hospitals within the Mercy Network. Each honoree will receive a certificate commending her or him for being an "Extraordinary Nurse." The honoree will also be given a beautiful and meaningful sculpture called A Healer’s Touch, hand-carved by artists of the Shona Tribe in Africa.
"When Patrick was critically ill, our family experienced first-hand the remarkable skill and care nurses provide patients every day and night. Yet these unsung heroes are seldom recognized for the super-human work they do. The kind of work the nurses at BCH are called on to do every day epitomizes the purpose of The DAISY Award,” says Bonnie Barnes, FAAN, President and Co-Founder of The DAISY Foundation.
Laura Krieger, BCH Assistant Administrator of Nursing, “We are proud to be among the healthcare organizations participating in the DAISY Award program. Nurses are heroes every day. It’s important that our nurses know their work is highly valued, and The DAISY Foundation provides a way for us to do that.”
An application is available here. Applications must be submitted to Laura Krieger, lkrieger@bchmail.org, by April 5, 2019.