St. Charles honors four nurses for’extraordinary care
St. Charles Health System nurses Tammi Jo Virgil, Monica Conklin, Kelli Jo Hammack and Teresa Standley have been honored with The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses ®, recognizing the extraordinary, compassionate nursing care they provide patients and families every day.
Nominated by patients, families and colleagues, the award recipients were chosen by a committee.
The nurses–which represent all four St. Charles hospitals in Bend, Redmond, Madras and Prineville–were recognized with a ceremony on their respective units and presented with a certificate, a pin and a “healer’s touch” sculpture by Chief Nursing Officer Pam Steinke. The DAISY honorees will also receive ongoing benefits, such as special rates for tuition and ANCC certification.
“Our nurses are exceptional and deserve to be formally recognized for their dedication, spirit and the quality of care they provide in the community,” Steinke said. “We are excited to celebrate all the stories of compassionate care we hear every day.”
The DAISY Foundation is a not-for-profit organization that was 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.
“When Patrick was critically ill, our family experienced first-hand the remarkable skill and care nurses provide patients every day and night,” said Bonnie Barnes, FAAN, president and co-founder of The DAISY Foundation. “Yet these unsung heroes are seldom recognized for the super-human, extraordinary, compassionate work they do. The kind of work the nurses at St. Charles are called on to do every day epitomizes the purpose of The DAISY Award.”
This is one initiative of The DAISY Foundation to express gratitude to the nursing profession. Additionally, DAISY offers J. Patrick Barnes Grants for Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice Projects, The DAISY Faculty Award to honor inspiring faculty members in schools and colleges of nursing and The DAISY in Training Award for nursing students. More information is available at http://DAISYfoundation.org.
