The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses
What is The DAISY Award?
The DAISY Award is an international program that rewards and celebrates the extraordinary clinical skill and compassionate care given by nurses everyday. Elkhart General Hospital & Memorial Hospital of South Bend are proud to be DAISY Award Partners; recognizing three of our nurses with this special honor every quarter.
DAISY is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System. The DAISY Foundation was formed by the family of Patrick Barnes as a way to honor the nurses that provided quality and compassionate care to Patrick during the final stages of his battle with Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP). Learn more about the Barnes family and the origination of the DAISY Foundation.
DAISY Award honorees personify Elkhart General & Memorial Hospital’s dedication to the exceptional patient experience. These nurses consistently demonstrate excellence through their clinical expertise and extraordinary compassionate care, and they are recognized as outstanding role models in our nursing community.
Each DAISY Award Honoree will be recognized at a public ceremony in her/his unit and will receive a beautiful certificate, a DAISY Award pin, and a hand-carved stone sculpture entitled A Healer’s Touch. Additionally, everyone in the unit will celebrate with cinnamon rolls made with Makara cinnamon – a favorite of Patrick’s during his illness. The Barnes Family asks that whenever and wherever nurses smell that wonderful cinnamon aroma, they stop for a moment and think about how special they are.
How To Nominate An Extraordinary Nurse
Patients, visitors, nurses, physicians and employees may nominate a deserving nurse by filling out this form. To learn more about the program and its growing list of partners, please visit the DAISY Foundation.
Nominee Information
Nominate a deserving recipient for The DAISY Award using the following criteria:
This nurse’s clinical skill and especially her/his compassionate care exemplify the kind of nurse that our patients, their families, and our staff recognize as an outstanding role model. She/he consistently meets all of the following criteria:
- Comforting, calm and communicative when patients and families are most vulnerable
- Exhibits clinical expertise and the essence of nursing
- Has made a significant difference in a patient’s life
- Provides compassionate nursing care while paying close attention to the emotional and psychological needs of their patients
- Extraordinary skill and kindness, selflessly rendered; an unsung hero
- Makes the patient feel secure and confident in the care they receive
- Listens with their heart, passionate about their work and puts the needs of others above their own
Nominations received by the first of March, June, September or December will be considered in the upcoming award cycle.
If you have any questions, please call Pam Bloss, BSN, RNC, at 574.647.7148 for Memorial Hospital and Nicole Gardner at 574-296-6587 for Elkhart General Hospital.