Nurses at Memorial Medical Center were recently honored with The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses®. The award is part of the DAISY Foundation’s mission to recognize the extraordinary, compassionate care that nurses provide patients and families every day.

The DAISY Award recipients at Memorial for the fourth quarter of 2020 are Ellen Carson, RN team leader, and Jonna Brown, an RN in the Observation Unit. Carson and Brown were nominated by patients  they cared for in our facility.

“I had to come to the hospital every three weeks for five days to get chemo and I always looked forward to the days Ellen was my nurse,” a patient wrote of Ellen’s dedicated care. “Don’t get me wrong, all the nurses that helped me during this time are great, but Ellen always went above my expectations and just felt like I was going to make it. Now I am almost done with my sessions and I am almost sad because I won’t see her anymore.”

“Jonna woke me up very concerned that I was OK. My heartbeat had dropped very low. They performed an EKG and everything checked OK. Jonna stuck around and we spoke for a while. She asked me several times how I was feeling. Jonna stayed for a while longer until I assured her that I was OK,” a patient’s nomination reads. “I cannot thank Jonna enough for her devotion to her duty. May God (bless) her and the rest of her team.”

The DAISY Foundation is a nonprofit 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. The DAISY award recipient is then chosen by a committee at Memorial Medical Center. Awards are presented throughout the year at celebrations attended by the Honoree’s colleagues, patients and visitors. Each Honoree receives a certificate commending her or him as an “Extraordinary Nurse.” The certificate reads: “In deep appreciation of all you do, who you are, and the incredibly meaningful difference you make in the lives of so many people.” Honorees also receive a DAISY Award pin and a beautiful and meaningful sculpture called “A Healer’s Touch,” hand-carved by artists of the Shona Tribe in Zimbabwe.

“We are proud to be among the healthcare organizations participating in The DAISY Award program,” said Caryn Iverson, Chief Nursing Officer at Memorial Medical Center. “Nurses are heroes not only during these extremely difficult times amid the pandemic, but every day. It’s important that our nurses know their work is highly valued, and The DAISY Foundation provides a powerful way for us to do that.”

Would you like to express gratitude to a Memorial Medical Center nurse that went above and beyond? Nurses may be nominated by patients, families and physicians. To nominate a nurse from Memorial for the DAISY Award online, please visit: DaisyNomination.org/mmclc.