New opportunity to recognize extraordinary nurses

Nurses at HSHS St. Francis Hospital can now be honored through a new national recognition program that the hospital is beginning this summer. The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses® is part of the DAISY Foundation's mission to recognize the extraordinary, compassionate nursing care they provide patients and families every day.

The DAISY Foundation is a not-for-profit organization established in memory of J. Patrick Barnes by members of his family. 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. DAISY is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System. The care Patrick and his family received from nurses at the California hospital 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. The awards program has been adopted by health care systems around the world including numerous HSHS hospitals.

St. Francis Hospital Director of Nursing Heather Senaldi, RN, BSN, said “We are proud to be among the health care 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 another way for us to do that.” 

Have you experienced exceptional care from a nurse at St. Francis Hospital? Nominations for the inaugural DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses at are now being accepted through the hospital’s website here, or on paper forms available throughout the hospital. 

The award recipient is chosen by a committee at HSHS St. Francis Hospital to receive The DAISY Award. Awards will be presented bi-annually in November and May. Each honoree receives a certificate commending her or him as an "Extraordinary Nurse,” a DAISY Award pin and a beautiful and meaningful sculpture called A Healer’s Touch, which is hand-carved by artists of the Shona Tribe in Zimbabwe. 

Bonnie Barnes, FAAN, Doctor of Humane Letters (h.c) and co-founder of The DAISY Foundation, said, "When Patrick was critically ill, our family experienced firsthand the remarkable skill and care nurses provide patients every day and night. Yet these unsung heroes are seldom recognized for the super-human, extraordinary, compassionate work they do. The kind of work the nurses at St. Francis Hospital are called on to do every day epitomizes the purpose of The DAISY Award.”

More information on the DAISY Foundation is available at http://DAISYfoundation.org.