Kim Davis, a registered nurse on the Westcott Beckler Morrison medical unit 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.

Davis was nominated by family members of patients who mentioned skills, thoughtfulness, respect, and compassion. According to one nomination, she went the extra mile every time.

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.

Sixteen other nurses were also nominated for the award. They include Deann Wilson, Kay Wong, Russell Dickerson, Jim Sanders, Carrie McDougal, Ladonna Bohannon, Amy Townsend, Salud Lopez, Joanna Cross, Mary Young, Nikki Taylor, Nikki Pueyo-Svoboda, Brooke Harrod, Angela Lacle’, Cayla Hensley, and Lisa Beach.

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.