The Bellevue Hospital (TBH) announced the winners of The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses® and The BEE Award for Extraordinary Team Members on Wednesday, Nov. 9 during a special presentation in the hospital’s atrium.
Dominique Boesken, a registered nurse in TBH’s medical/surgical department, received the DAISY Award. The BEE Award was given to Carah Weber, a social worker/discharge planner in case management.
“The Bellevue Hospital understands and acknowledges the strength behind good teamwork. In 2020, we introduced the DAISY Award for nursing excellence and then earlier this year we added the BEE Award for non-nursing team members,” said Timothy A. Buit, TBH’s president and chief executive officer.
Nominations for both the DAISY and BEE are reviewed and recipients are chosen by a committee at The Bellevue Hospital. Awards are given twice a year – in May and November. Each honoree receives a certificate, a pin, a bag of gifts and a beautiful and meaningful sculpture hand-carved by artists of the Shona Tribe in Zimbabwe.
“I want to give a special thank you to Kelly Goretzki, who nominated Dominique, and Natalie Frankart, who nominated Carah,” said Sara Brokaw, TBH’s chief operations officer and chief nursing officer. “This award does not happen unless people take the time to submit a nomination story, and it means a great deal that you care enough for these individuals to recognize them.”
DAISY Award recipient Dominique Boesken of Oak Harbor has been an employee at TBH since May 2021. Boesken is the third nurse to be selected for this prestigious award at TBH. Boesken was one of 12 nurses to receive nominations.
Boesken’s nominator, Kelly Goretzki, related a story from this summer when the new nurse interacted with a patient experiencing a difficult transition. Only in her second week of training as a registered nurse, Boesken showed empathy and compassion for this patient.
According to Goretzki, who is also a registered nurse, the patient was experiencing much pain and discomfort, and was basically inconsolable with pain relief.
“On her own, Dominique decided to share her own story with the patient,” said Goretzki. “She sat at the patient’s bedside, held her hand, and calmly reflected and shared her own feeling after a similar situation. The patient was soon calmer, and started to rest easier.”
“I feel that this selfless act showed so much compassion and demonstrated integrity. I feel Dominique is very deserving of a DAISY Award.”
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. The award is part of the DAISY Foundation's mission to recognize the extraordinary, compassionate nursing care nurses provide patients and families every day. More information is available at http://DAISYfoundation.org.
Said Bonnie Barnes, FAAN, president and co-founder of The DAISY Foundation, "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 The Bellevue Hospital are called on to do every day epitomizes the purpose of The DAISY Award.”
This is the second time a BEE Award was distributed and 15 employees received nominations. The award was introduced as a way to recognize non-nursing employees who go above and beyond for the hospital.
“The BEE award was established earlier this year to recognize extraordinary team members in non-nursing roles that go above and beyond to make an impact outside of their day-to-day duties,” said Lisa Sartain, TBH’s vice president of human resources. “The support of these individuals is foundational to the exceptional care our nurses and providers give to our patients each and every day; they simply could not do this without the help of these team mates. So, just as the Daisy cannot survive without the BEE, nurses cannot survive without their team mates.”
Fellow co-worker and registered nurse Natalie Frankart nominated Carah Weber for her efforts to exceed "Being Excellent Everyday!" Weber has been an employee at TBH since September 2018.
“On a daily basis, I witness Carah moving briskly from department to department handling multiple situations at once, all with a warm smile on her face,” said Frankart.
Frankart explained that Weber lends assistance to all that she encounters, whether it be the staff, patients, family members or visitors. She serves as a role model and exhibits the core values of TBH in her everyday practice.
“She has the heart of a caregiver and her work eases the stress of those she encounters,” Frankart added.
According to Frankart, Carah works hard from the time she arrives until the time she departs each day, and even taking an occasional after-hours phone call when her guidance is needed.
“Her patience, her kind servant heart and her hard work has not gone unnoticed as she always enhances the well-being of others,” Frankart said.
Anyone who has recently been a patient at The Bellevue Hospital and would like to nominate a nurse for The DAISY Award, visit www.daisynomination.org/tbh. To nominate a support employee for the BEE award, visit https://www.bellevuehospital.com/bee-award-nomination.