Elvira Hernandez Moya, RN, a nurse on Hamilton Medical Center’s medical unit, recently received the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses. The DAISY Award recognizes exemplary nursing excellence, and is the highest honor a nurse can receive at HMC.
Moya was nominated for going above and beyond in caring for a patient. The patient mentioned Moya’s care and compassion, extra time spent with the patient to calm fears, making the patient comfortable and understanding what the patient was going through as reasons for the nomination.
The award, presented in collaboration with The American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE) is part of the DAISY Foundation’s program to recognize the super-human efforts nurses perform every day.
DAISY Award recipients receive an honorary DAISY pin, a banner to display on their unit, an award certificate, and the Healer’s Touch, a hand-carved sculpture by the Shona tribe in Zimbabwe. The sculpture is especially meaningful because of the profound respect the Shona tribe gives to their traditional “healers.” A Shona healer is affectionately regarded as a treasure by those they are caring for which describes exactly how the DAISY Foundation and Hamilton feel about nurses.
Sixty other nurses were also nominated for the award. They include: Roxana Posadas, Laura Perez, Brian Jacobo-Villalobos, Creighton Hix, Erika Paez, Mary Young, Kara Seffernick, Emily Sardina, Amanda Cargal, Zach Henson, Shirl Edwards, Will Brooker, Amy Neighbors, Amanda Robertson, Laura Thomison, Anna Fleming, Stephanie Bergeron, Julius Salomon, Valencia McBayne, Jennifer Summey, Tiffany Blackwood, William Owens, Corbin Blankenship, Freddy Fairman, Johnathan Rendon, Anayelli Rosas, Donna Johnson, Tiffany Burns, Madison Williamson, Cassidy Judd, Karsen Hooper, Brandy Setser, Paula Baliles, Jessica Hix, Allison Cartledge, Erica Green, Julia Harding, Juli Hayes, Jadea Fox, Todd Hudgins, Madison Miller, Crystal Townsend, Devan Cochran, Krishna Bemis, Oscar Guzman-Cruz, Candice Henderson, Maranda Storey, Haleigh Parker, Phebee Garrett, Alice Williams, Emma Wheeler, Rachel Patterson, Brett Byrd, Kaitlyn Blankenship, Billie Wilson, Chadwick Nash, Sabrina Carter, Aaron Pack, Jacob Bell and Cherish Croft.
The not-for-profit DAISY Foundation is based in Glen Ellen, Calif., and was established by family members in memory of J. Patrick Barnes. Barnes 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.