- The DAISY Award committee at The Bellevue Hospital launched the internationally recognized award program to hospital employees and community members in January 2020.
Nurses at The Bellevue Hospital will soon be 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 awards program at the local hospital began in January and nominations are now being accepted.
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 autoimmune 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.
“We are proud to be among the healthcare organizations participating in The DAISY Award program. Nurses are heroes every day,” said Sara Brokaw, Vice President of Patient Services at The Bellevue Hospital. “It’s important that our nurses know their work is highly valued, and The DAISY Foundation provides one way for us to do that.”
Nurses may be nominated by patients, families, and colleagues. Nomination forms can be found in various locations throughout the hospital. In addition, online nominations can be submitted at www.daisynomination.org/TBH. For more information about The Bellevue Hospital’s local DAISY Award program, visit bellevuehospital.com.
Once nominations are collected, the award recipient is chosen by a committee at The Bellevue Hospital to receive The DAISY Award. Awards will be presented twice per 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." 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.
"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 The Bellevue Hospital are called on to do every day epitomizes the purpose of The DAISY Award.”
In addition to the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses, the Foundation expresses gratitude to the nursing profession internationally in over 4,000 healthcare facilities and schools of nursing with recognition of direct care Nurses, Nurse-led Teams, Nurse Leaders, Nursing Faculty, Nursing Students, through the J. Patrick Barnes Grants for Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice Projects and for nurses participating in medical missions. More information is available at http://DAISYfoundation.org