Dalton, Ga. (March 11, 2026) – Amy Townsend, RN, a nurse in Hamilton Medical Center’s (HMC) 3B 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.
Townsend was nominated for the award based on her kindness, compassion, patience, knowledge, honesty, exceptional care and her commitment to communication.
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 HMC feel about nurses.
Seventy-three other nurses were also nominated for the award. They include: Billie Jean Wilson, Zach Henson, Rochelle Juba, Donna Ivy, Kim Ledford, Josalyn Shults, Katie Chance, Elizabeth Bennett, Emily Everett, Alexis Banda, Anayelli Rosas, Tommy Garcia, Stephanie Gravitt, Alex Pangle, James Dustin Rewis, Patrick Simmons, Alise Carter, Ashley Bryan, Haleigh Parker, Kay Wong, Sharon Sanchez, Randy Clark, Devan Cochran, Meri Hicks, Danny Canales, Nyiesha Gingery, Karen Nunez, Ashton Henson, Cristal Paez, Madison Day, E’lan Watson, Trisha Salomon, Teresa Teasley, Guadalupe Lawrence, Kallie Carter, Daile Vance, Uriel Carrillo, Nancy Wachira, Kim Davis, Chantel Williams, Cheryl Mitchell, Valencia McBayne, Eunice Ngere, Julius Salomon, Regina Hocking, Anna Fleming, Emily Allen, Savannah Welch, Zarah Langford, Letia Stephens, Riccy Carroll, Scott Cavanaugh, Stephen Munene, Linda Kearney, Lydia Squires, Amanda Cargal, Ashley Barmore, Erica Ingle, Diadem Monana, Elvira Hernandez-Moya, Cassidy Judd, Emily Nalley, Karina Smith, Charlotte Smith, Erica Green, Nicole Taylor, Arilla Newman, Amanda Blassingame, Katrina Longest, Ashley Dean, Amanda Starks, Wanda Garner and Kimberly Bustamante.
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.