Leigh Ann Smith, a registered nurse on the Westcott Beckler Morrison cardiac unit at Hamilton Medical Center, 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 Hamilton Medical Center (HMC). An award presentation reception was recently held.
(To nominate a nurse for the DAISY Award, CLICK HERE)
Smith was nominated by family members of three patients. The nominations mentioned her expertise, patience, humor, availability, compassion and communication as reasons why she was nominated.
“’Patients first!’ That describes Leigh Ann,” said Terri Brown, director of Medical Services. “She continues to grow in her role and serves as a leader of her team.”
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-nine other nurses were also nominated for the award. They include: Scott Cavanaugh, Mary Caitlin Lock, Andrea Hill, Lindsay Conger, Justin Bailey, Cassie Chamlee, Teresa Ingle, Gina Hawkins, Teresia Williams, Leah Stokes, Emily Everett, Josh Cole, Lauren Turbyfill, Kathryn Kornberg, Amanda Starks, Sandi Killen, Tiffany Massie, Edith Sanchez, Terri Holden, Ashley Hasty, Mary Waddell, Alisha Shirley, Kristen Graves, Karen Lolley, Aaron Holden, Yvette Forster, Susan Meals, Shirl Edwards, Shelby McFarland, Jill Davis, Sara Evans, Bayo Adeeko, Tabatha Parrish, Kim Rich, Shanna Ramage, Justin Burgett, Cheryl Mitchell, Andria Hicks and Nancy Niemi.
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.