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DAISY Award: Thank a Nurse

Help us celebrate the compassion and skills of our extraordinary nurses.DAISY photo

The DAISY Award was established by The DAISY Foundation, a nonprofit organization that honors the nursing profession, as a way to say thank you to nurses for the skilled, compassionate and challenging work nurses do every day.

Thank a nurse and share your story! Submit your nomination here.

Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego is proud to be a DAISY Award Partner, recognizing one of our nurses with this special honor every month.

The DAISY FoDAISY logo sizedundation was established to honor extraordinary nurses as well as to raise funds for nursing research and to recognize nursing faculty. The foundation was formed by the family of J. Patrick Barnes, who died at age 33 of an immune system disease in 1999. During Pat’s eight-week hospitalization, his family was awestruck by the care and compassion his nurses provided, not only to Pat, but to everyone in his family.

By creating the DAISY Foundation in Pat’s memory, the family set a goal to recognize extraordinary nurses everywhere who make an enormous difference in the lives of so many people by the super-human work they do every day. DAISY is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System.

For more information, please visit www.DAISYfoundation.org.

Why nominate a nurse?
For nurses, receiving the award is inspirational and motivational – it lets them know their hard work is recognized and appreciated. It also is a visible reminder of the enormous contribution and value nurses bring to people’s lives every day.

DAISY Award Honorees personify Rady Children’s remarkable patient experience. These nurses consistently demonstrate excellence through their clinical expertise and extraordinary compassionate care, and they are recognized as outstanding role models in our nursing community.

What does the winning nurse receive?
Every nurse who is nominated for the award receives a DAISY lapel pin. The winning nurse receives the following:

  • An award certificate
  • A special pin
  • A presentation on his or her unit
  • A “spotlight page” on the DAISY Foundation’s website
  • A hand-carved Shona sculpture called “The Healer’s Touch”

The sculpture is especially meaningful. Carved from stone by artists from the Shona tribe in Zimbabwe, it depicts the embracing relationship nurses have with their patients and pays homage to the profound respect the Shona people have for their healers. DAISY’s purchase of the sculptures also helps support artisans living in a very desperate situation in Zimbabwe.

Additionally, everyone in the unit will celebrate with Cinnabon® cinnamon rolls, a favorite of Pat’s during his illness. The Barnes Family asks that whenever and wherever nurses smell that wonderful cinnamon aroma, they stop for a moment and think about how special they are.