Vanderbilt University Medical Center has announced the institution’s first recipients of the DAISY Award, a new recognition for extraordinary nurses who exemplify compassion toward patients and families.
VUMC is distributing the award in partnership with The DAISY Foundation, which was formed in 1999 to honor the memory of J. Patrick Barnes, a 33-year-old man who died of complications of the autoimmune disease Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP). Barnes’ family was moved by the care they received from his nurses and wanted to recognize them as a way to preserve his memory. Therefore, DAISY is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System.
In offering the award, Vanderbilt joins more than 3,000 health care facilities and schools of nursing in all 50 states and 17 other countries. VUMC nurse committees determine the individual recipients.
This is the Medical Center’s first round of DAISY Awards, which honor four recipients — one each from Vanderbilt University Adult Hospital, Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, The Vanderbilt Clinics and Vanderbilt Behavioral Health. The award is open to all licensed nurses and anyone can nominate — including co-workers, patients and their families. Nominations may be made here.
Vanderbilt Behavioral Health will give its award twice a year, and the other entities will award quarterly. Recipients will be honored with a certificate, badge pin and a statue made in Zimbabwe called “A Healer’s Touch.”
The winners of this inaugural group of DAISY awards:
Tamera Hawkins, RN, LCCE, of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), from Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt.
Diana Levine, LPN, of the Cancer Clinic area of Vanderbilt Adult Clinics.
Meghan Fitzpatrick, BSN, RN, of 8 South – Inpatient Medicine, from Vanderbilt University Adult Hospital.
Mallory Johnson, BSN, RN, of the Adult II unit at Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital.
