Hunterdon Health Nurses Receive The DAISY Award® For Extraordinary Nurses
Wendy Angelia Engle, BSN, RN and Rachel Schwartzer, BSN, RN, 3 West, received the Daisy Award for Hunterdon Health. The award is part of the DAISY Foundation’s program to recognize the clinical skill and the compassion nurses provide to patients and families every day.
A patient wrote, “I drove 12+ hours, and after working for 10 hours during a hurricane from North Carolina to come to see my father who was in the Emergency Department. As soon as I arrived, I stayed with him in the Emergency Department until he was switched to a room on 3 West. Once we arrived (at about 3:00 a.m.) even though my father’s name/records had not yet been populated in the system, Wendy and Rachel went right to work based on their experience and immediately started to care for my father. I was so impressed with their knowledge and willingness to help. They made sure to piece together the puzzle pieces to ensure my questions were answered, my father was taken care of, and that he was comfortable. Additionally, the way in which they spoke to him was very sweet and made him feel at ease – and made me feel at ease as well. Wendy took extra care of him and was the only one to notice his dry brittle skin, Rachel jumped in to get him hooked up to his antibiotics/IV right away to help Wendy even though my father wasn’t her patient.”
The not-for-profit DAISY Foundation is based in Glen Ellen, CA, and was established by family members in memory of J. Patrick Barnes. 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. 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’s families.
Bonnie Barnes, FAAN, President and Co-Founder of The DAISY Foundation said, “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 work they do. The kind of work the nurses throughout Hunterdon Health are called on to do every day epitomizes the purpose of The DAISY Award.”
The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses has been adopted by 3,500 healthcare facilities and schools of nursing in all 50 states and 21 other countries, committed to honoring their nurses for their extraordinary care and compassion. Individual nurses may be nominated by patients, families, and colleagues and they are chosen by a Hunterdon Health committee.
“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,” explained Chief Nursing Officer and Vice President of Patient Care Services, Mary Jo Loughlin, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, Hunterdon Health.
DAISY Award recipients are presented with a certificate, a DAISY Award pin, a beautiful hand-carved serpentine stone sculpture from Zimbabwe, and a spotlight page on The DAISY Foundation website, featuring a photo and telling the story of why this nurse was honored.
At each award presentation, all the nurses and staff in the recipient’s unit are treated to cinnamon rolls. The reason? Once, Patrick ate his father’s cinnamon roll when he was in the hospital without an appetite for food. He then requested one for the next day – and enough for all the nurses in the unit.
To nominate a nurse who works for Hunterdon Health or to learn more, visit https://www.hunterdonhealth.org/services/careers/nursing-careers/daisy-award.