Extraordinary nurses recognized at Weiser Memorial Hospital

Weiser Memorial Hospital employees are joining in National Nurses Week to recognize the dedication of their nurses.
 A critical part of the hospital team providing frontline care, COVID-19 has brought additional attention to the value our nurses bring to their jobs each day.
 To acknowledge their dedication, during this time and throughout the year, nurses at Weiser Memorial Hospital are being honored with the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses.
 This award is part of the DAISY Foundation’s world-wide mission to recognize the extraordinary, compassionate nursing care being provided to patients and families every day.  
 Chief Nursing Officer Ginger Watko shares, “We are very proud to be among the healthcare organizations participating in the esteemed 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.”      
 The DAISY Foundation is a not-for-profit organization, established in memory of J. Patrick Barnes by his family. Barnes died at the age of 33 in 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 Barnes 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, their families and friends.  
 “Our hope is that when a patient receives exceptional care at Weiser Memorial, they will take a few moments to go to the hospital website and fill in the DAISY nomination form or request a form from the hospital nurses’ station. It allows the patient or family to tell a little bit about the care that was provided. We have set up a committee who will review the nominations twice a year to recognize nominees and to select the annual DAISY award honoree,” Watko said.
 The annual DAISY award recipient will be recognized at an end of the year celebration attended by the honoree’s colleagues, patients, and visitors.  The 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.
 Bonnie Barnes, FAAN, president and co-founder of the DAISY Foundation shared, “When Patrick was critically ill, our family experienced first-hand 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 Weiser Memorial Hospital are called on to do every day epitomizes the purpose of The DAISY Award.”