Unique recognition program highlights nurses, fosters pride during National Nurses Week
Ochsner Health System and UnitedHealthcare announce the sponsorship of The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses who’ve provided exemplary care. Ochsner DAISY Award recipients for the first quarter of 2009 will be recognized this week for National Nurses Week on Wednesday, May 6, 2009, from 10:00 am – 11:00 am in the 2nd Floor Brent House Conference Center, Ochsner Medical Center, 1514 Jefferson Highway.
“In honor of the National Nurses Week theme – Building A Healthy America, UnitedHealthcare is proud to support The DAISY Foundation in recognizing talented nurses who provide exemplary care to their patients,” said Glen Golemi, CEO of UnitedHealthcare Gulf States Region. “In spite of the current nationwide nursing shortage, nurses are part of the foundation to help people stay well, get well or live with illness. Through countless interactions each year with our members, they put our mission into action by improving the way healthcare works for people.”
DAISY is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System. The Foundation was formed in January 2000 by the family of J. Patrick Barnes who died at age 33 of complications of Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP). Because of the skillful and amazingly compassionate care he received from his nurses, his family created the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses to recognize the super-human work nurses do every day all over the country.
Each month, nurses across the U.S. are nominated by their staff and patients to receive The DAISY Award. The honorees receive a certificate commending outstanding clinical care and a designation of being an “Extraordinary Nurse.” Barnes added, “When we created The DAISY Foundation, we could not have anticipated that our program would come to be regarded by some of the best hospitals in America as a strategic tool for nurse recruitment and retention – two key elements in managing the nursing shortage.”
UnitedHealthcare’s support brings total grant contributions to nearly $61,000 to the DAISY Foundation’s national initiative to recognize nurses. Ochsner joins 39 other hospitals in the U.S. whose nurses are recognized by UnitedHealthcare.
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