LWMC HONORS EXTRAORDINARY NURSES WITH DAISY AWARD
Lake Wales, FL – Nurses at Lake Wales Medical Center are being honored with The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses ®. The award is part of the DAISY Foundation’s mission to recognize the extraordinary, compassionate nursing care they provide patients and families every day.
The first LWMC nurse to receive the DAISY Award is Elizabeth Major, RN, charge nurse on the Surgical Care Unit and Medical Care Unit.
“Elizabeth is kind, caring, compassionate and consistently gets praise from her patients, the physicians and her co-workers,” said Andrea Clyne, the hospital’s Chief Nursing Officer. “Patients say she is warm and makes them feel at ease when they are scared,” Clyne continued. “She comforts them with stories and with information about their health. Elizabeth always has a smile on her face. She eagerly accepts work assignments and thinks outside the box to ensure the patients receive outstanding care.”
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 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 the winner is chosen by a committee at the hospital. The DAISY awards are presented throughout the year at celebrations attended by the honoree’s colleagues, patients and visitors. Each honoree receives a certificate commending him or her as an “Extraordinary Nurse.” Honorees also receive a DAISY Award pin and a sculpture called A Healer’s Touch, hand-carved by artists in the Shona Tribe in Zimbabwe.
Said Bonnie Barnes, FAAN, President and Co-Founder of The DAISY Foundation, “When Patrick was critically ill, our family experiences first-hand the remarkable skill and care nurses provide patients every day and night. Yet those unsung heroes are seldom recognized for the super-human, extraordinary, compassionate work they do. The kind of work the nurses at Lake Wales Medical Center are called on to do every day epitomizes the purpose of The DAISY Award.”
Clyne said, “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.”
Photo info: Elizabeth Major, RN, 2nd from right, is the first recipient at Lake Wales Medical Center of the prestigious DAISY Award for extraordinary nurses. She is congratulated by, from left, Sandy George, RN, Chief Quality Officer; Shayne Mccal-Cassidy, RN, Director of MCU / SCU; and Andrea Clyne, RN, Chief Nursing Officer.
