(ANACONDA) Mary Anderson with Montana VA Health Care System’s Anaconda Community Based Outpatient Clinic has been honored with a DAISY Award for extraordinary nursing.
Her award comes after being nominated by Navy veteran Thomas Straugh who was suffering severe pain when he walked due to a toe nail issue and experienced challenges treating it before encountering Ms. Anderson.
“[Nurse Anderson] asked if I had a black dog when she brushed off my toe … most would not have even noticed [the hair],” described Mr. Straugh. “She was careful, tactful, gentle, and effective. She listened to me describe the stress that I had accumulated over the last year. She was supportive of me and my family—two legged and four. When I cried, she comforted me.”
The DAISY Award is on-going recognition of the clinical care nurses provide to patients and families all year long.
The award was created in memory of Patrick Barnes to highlight the skillful and compassionate care Patrick received from his nurses during his eight-week hospitalization.
Nurses are nominated by anyone in the organization – patients, family members, other nurses, physicians, other clinicians and staff – anyone who experiences or observes extraordinary compassionate care being provided by a nurse.
DAISY is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune SYstem, The DAISY Foundation was formed in November 1999, by the family of J. Patrick Barnes who died at age 33 of complications of Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP). The nursing care Patrick received when hospitalized profoundly touched his family.
For more on the DAISY Award, visit: https://www.daisyfoundation.org/
- Information and photo provided by Montana VA Health Care System
