DAISY Award Recognizes Extraordinary Nurses

November 12, 2019

Lawrence General is engaging with The DAISY Foundation to recognize extraordinary nurses across the hospital. Nominations are now being accepted for the second DAISY Award, which will be issued in December, and on a bi-monthly basis thereafter. Molly Phongchit, RN, of the Emergency Center, was awarded as the first recipient on October 10. The award program is part of The DAISY Foundation’s mission to recognize nurses for the exceptional, compassionate care they provide patients and families every day.

“We are proud to be among the health care organizations participating in The DAISY Award program,” says Karen Moore, RN, senior vice president of Operations and chief nursing officer. “It’s important that our nurses know their work is highly valued, and the DAISY Foundation provides a way for us to do that.”

Staff members, patients, and visitors can all nominate a nurse to be recognized with a DAISY award. Each recipient will be chosen by a selection committee at Lawrence General, and the award will be presented during a ceremony on the honoree’s unit. Award recipients will each receive a certificate, an award pin, and a sculpture called A Healer’s Touch, which is hand-carved by artists of the Shona Tribe in Zimbabwe.

The DAISY Award was established by The DAISY Foundation in memory of J. Patrick Barnes who died at age 33 of ITP, an auto-immune disease. The Barnes Family was awestruck by the clinical skills, caring, and compassion of the nurses who cared for Patrick, so they created this international award to say thank you to nurses everywhere. There are now over 3,500 health care facilities in all 50 states, plus 19 other countries, committed to honoring their nurses with The DAISY Award.

Nomination forms are available on the homepage of the Employee Hub and at www.lawrencegeneral.org/daisy. If you have questions, please contact Michele Woonton, RN, MSN, CCRN, at Michele.Woonton@lawrencegeneral.org.