Tim Winterbottom, a registered nurse in the Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) at Hamilton Medical Center (HMC), 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. An award presentation reception was recently held.
Winterbottom was nominated by family members of three patients. The nominations mentioned his compassion, patience, knowledge, warmth and positive attitude as reasons why he was nominated.
“Tim takes ownership in the unit,” said Brandy Salazar, MICU manager. “He is attentive to all patient needs, not just his assigned patients. He is a team player and will take time to help without being asked. He is very passionate about nursing care and making sure the patients receive the best care possible.”
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.
Thirty other nurses were also nominated for the award. They include: Brandy Southerland, Brandy Setser, Anna Fleming, Maria Deal, Chris Satterfield, Sallie Sanders, Cheryl Mitchell, Cassie Chamlee, Penny Pitts, Allison Cartledge, Lisa Murdoch, Justin Burgett, Wanda Cooper, Teresa Riddle, Leah Parker, Kevin Woodward, Laura Koger, Levi Barnette, Amber Ballew, Lisa Baxter, Bayo Adeeko, Tracy Adams, Niki Gerber, Justin Bailey, Terresa Adams, Celeste Timms, Julie King, Kelly Mullis, Shana Leonard and Jessica Guest.
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.