The story behind DAISY.
DAISY is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System. The Foundation was formed in November, 1999, by the family of J. Patrick Barnes who died at age 33 of complications of the autoimmune disease Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP). Pat’s death after 8 weeks in the hospital was a terrible shock to his family. However, the nursing care they experienced during Pat’s hospitalization compelled them to express their gratitude to nurses everywhere for the clinical skill and compassionate care nurses provide every day. This is why the Barnes family created The DAISY Foundation and The DAISY Award For Extraordinary Nurses.
DAISY Nurses
The DAISY Award provides healthcare leaders the means to highlight all the “right” going on in their organizations. Each nomination tells the story of extraordinary compassion and care provided to a patient. The result is a program that helps drive organizational culture, inspire and motivate extraordinary nursing, nourish teamwork and promote the professional image of nursing.
Each DAISY Award comes with a story. For a dose of inspiration, grab a cup of coffee and peruse these inspiring stories on the DAISY Foundation Website about nursing excellence
ARTICLES
These DAISY Stories Will Remind You Why You’re a Nurse
The DAISY Award is reserved for nurses who deliver exceptional care on the job, often going above and beyond the expectations required of them. Providers can be nominated by their colleagues, patients, and their families. It’s a special honor designed to shed light on the amazing acts of kindness nurses perform every day. Dozens of nurses receive this prestigious award every year, so we decided to highlight some of our favorite stories from 2023 for Nurses’ Week. Here are some recent stories to remind you why you became a nurse: Christy Fliss – Night Shift, Sanford Health Sylvan Court “It’s […]
Night Shift Nurse Wins DAISY Award for Her Calming Presence
Christy Fliss isn’t used to seeing much daylight as the charge nurse on the night shift at Sanford Health Sylvan Court in Canby, Minnesota where she’s worked for nearly nine years. Her colleagues know and love her for her attention to detail and stabilizing presence in the ICU, so they decided to surprise her with the DAISY Award to show her how much they appreciate having her around. “As an administrator, we can get calls any time of the day, any time of the night,” said fellow night shift nurse Jason Anderson. “When I know Christy’s on, I just have […]
ICU Nurse Wins DAISY Award for His Gentle Spirit
Losing a loved one is never easy. But having an empathetic nurse on hand can make it that much easier to say goodbye. Grayson Moss, an ICU nurse at Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center in Rome, Georgia, recently found out how much of a difference his presence can make when a woman nominated him for the DAISY Award, a special honor from the DAISY Foundation for nurses who go above and beyond the demands of the job. The woman was at the hospital during her aunt’s final days when she noticed Moss’s soothing demeanor. “It’s never easy to lose a […]
Long-Term Care Nurse Wins DAISY Award for Patient Rehabilitation
Kayla Finzen, a licensed practical nurse at Good Samaritan Society in Sioux Falls, North Dakota, received a welcome surprise at work the other week. Linda Fansin, one of her former patients, was on hand to present her with the DAISY Award, a special honor reserved for nurses who go above and beyond the demands of the job for their patients. Linda came to the facility for a leg wound and credits Finzen with nursing her back to health. “It took me about a week to realize what a top-notch nurse I had in the rehab facility when I was here,” […]
Nurse Wins DAISY Award for Helping Patient with Last Rites
Bailey Strausser, who works second shift in the Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) at the University of Iowa, was in the middle of managing multiple patients when one of them asked to speak to a Catholic priest as she felt herself slipping away. Strausser is now being honored for going above and beyond to honor her last wishes. “In that moment, the end of her life, it was the last thing I could do to honor my patient,” said Strausser, RN, PCCN. Summoning a priest proved to be much harder than she originally thought when she couldn’t get the on-call […]
MercyOne Nurse Receives DAISY Award for Exceptional Care
Abigail Peterson, a registered nurse at MercyOne Clinton Medical Center, is getting her moment in the sun. She received the DAISY Award for her work in the emergency department her team nominated her for giving extraordinary compassionate care. The award recognizes nurses who advance health equity with their work in the community. She is noted for going above and beyond the standard requirements to ensure patients got the best medical care they needed. Her nomination read, “Her joyful attitude at work is what immediately caught my attention. Over the past few years, I observed Abby carry that positive attitude into […]
Woman Decides to Become a Nurse After Taking Son Off Life Support
Dani Reed, of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, never saw herself becoming a nurse – until she lost her newborn son to complications in 2007. Now she’s being honored by her local community for her decision to help others as part of National Nurses’ Week. Reed went to the hospital when she was pregnant with her third son, Teagan. She told the nurses on staff that she knew something was wrong. But she says her concerns weren’t taken seriously until it was too late. Soon after she gave birth, they had to put Teagan on life support, but his chances of survival […]
DAISY Founders Bonnie and Mark Barnes Receive Honorary Doctorates from Chamberlain University
Mark and Bonnie have spent their lives giving back to the nursing community since losing their son J. Patrick Barnes at the age of 33. He passed away from complications due to Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP). His parents created the DAISY Foundation to honor all the brave men and women in scrubs that go above and beyond for their patients every day. Today, there are over 4,900 healthcare facilities and schools that participate in the program. Chamberlain University honored Mark and Bonnie Barnes with honorary doctorate degrees on Oct 20th to mark their contributions to the industry. A Fitting Tribute […]
Nurse Executive Dr. Deborah Zimmermann to Lead The DAISY Foundation™
It is with great pride and excitement for the future that DAISY Co-founders Bonnie and Mark Barnes, FAANs, announce the appointment of Deborah Zimmermann, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, as Chief Executive Officer of The DAISY Foundation. Deb has served on the Foundation’s Board since 2018 and very effectively ran The DAISY Award® program when she was the Chief Nursing Officer and Vice President of Patient Care Services at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Health System. She will assume her new role as of November 1, 2021. “Deb is truly an inspirational leader. Her engagement in The DAISY Award at VCU was superb, […]
Versant’s Bahamas “Family Island” COVID-19 Rollout a Historic Success
The Bahamas is a group of 700 islands, 30 of which are populated. Many areas are battling a shortage of medical facilities and medical professionals – especially far-removed rural areas. This makes it a significant logistical challenge for the Bahamian Ministry of Health to reach much of the population with COVID-19 vaccine doses. Patient loads are heavy in more densely populated areas, and across rural areas, as one vaccination site would open, another would have to close. One group of medical professionals and pilots wanted to do something to augment the Bahamian effort to vaccinate the people of the islands, […]
Gentry Cruze Wins the DAISY Award for His Commitment to Relieving Pain
Pain is a b***h. We all know how awful chronic pain can be in and out of the hospital. Patients want you to make it go away by any means necessary. That was true for Gentry Cruze, BSN, RN of Dallas, TX. His 61-year-old patient suffered from chronic back pain for most of their life until Cruze found a solution that didn’t involve opioids. Thanks to his resourcefulness, Cruze has just received the DAISY Award for his unending service to his patients. The Problem with Chronic Pain One of Cruze’s patients at Pentec Health can’t stop singing his praises. They […]
The DAISY Foundation Launches New Campaign in Times Square
The DAISY Foundation is one of the most esteemed organizations that honor heroic nurses all over the country. For years, providers and administrators have been nominating nurses for the annual DAISY Award, which is reserved for those who go above and beyond for their patients. Now, patients and family members can nominate their favorite nurses right on the DAISY Foundation website. The organization is hoping to honor more nurses and brave providers in the months to come as the COVID-19 pandemic rages on. Nurses have been in the national spotlight for months, and now some of these extraordinary providers are finally […]
DAISY Award Winner Kayla Miller Stopped to Perform CPR on Victims of the Dayton Shooting
Critical care nurse Kayla Miller is being honored for her heroic response to the Dayton mass shooting over the weekend. She was at a bar in Dayton, Ohio when a gunman opened fire on a crowd of people just outside the bar. But instead of fleeing for her life, Miller stopped to perform CPR on the gunman’s victims. Luckily, local authorities took out the gunman within just 30 seconds of the first shots being fired. Miller is also a winner of The DAISY Award, which honors excellence in nursing. Find out what happened on the night of the shooting and […]
DAISY Award-Winning Nurse Left for Dead
Wisconsin Nurse Brutally Attacked and Found Frozen to the Ground Police were shocked to find Carlie Beaudin, 33, a nurse practitioner, frozen to the ground and bleeding from the head on Friday, January 25th in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, a Milwaukee suburb. A snowplow driver found Beaudin frozen to the ground underneath a car early last Friday. Beaudin was still alive when authorities arrived at the scene. According to police, she had a weak pulse at the time of their arrival and died soon after. Police took Kenneth Freeman, 27, into custody that same day in connection with Carlie Beaudin’s death. Freeman […]
New DAISY Foundation Video: The Many Voices of Compassionate Care
For nearly 20 years The DAISY Foundation has recognized and celebrated the highest levels of compassionate care demonstrated in health care facilities all over the world. Healthcare professionals offer and witness extraordinary patient care every hour, every shift, every day, often unaware of the impact made and the lives touched forever. A new Video produced by Cherokee, a DAISY Foundation Industry Partner, movingly tells the story of just a few of the more than one million nurses who have been nominated to receive The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Care since 1999. The DAISY Award (DAISY is the acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System) was […]
DAISY Foundation celebrates 10th anniversary
The DAISY Foundation celebrates 10 years of honoring outstanding nurses.
