Hospitalist nurse Jason Mathews, RN, was honored with the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses at Sarah Bush Lincoln on Saturday, September 10.
Mathews was nominated for his dedication to providing exceptional care as a member of the hospitalist team. Hospitalists are doctors who have advanced training and experience in the special medical care needed by people during a hospital stay.
Mathews was nominated by a co-worker who wrote: “Jason is a huge support to the hospitalist team and the entire hospital staff. He is our ‘go-to-guy’ for difficult IV starts, a great resource, and he never complains about the many questions and calls he receives. He maintains his positive, cheerful attitude at all times.
“Jason always goes the extra mile for our patients and he never seems to get frustrated with the many, many phone calls he receives during his role as hospitalist nurse. He always finds the right answer.”
“Recently, Jason went out of his way to assist staff members in caring for a patient who was declining even though it wasn’t a hospitalist patient. He made sure everything that could be done was being done for that patient. He contacted the patient’s medical provider on a weekend and helped to facilitate what needed to be done. He is a true patient advocate and demonstrates what a professional nurse should be.”
Sarah Bush Lincoln recently joined more than 1,900 healthcare facilities by becoming a DAISY Award hospital partner. During the award presentation, Mathews received a certificate, a DAISY Award pin and a unique, hand-carved serpentine stone sculpture from Zimbabwe, entitled, “A Healer’s Touch.”
The DAISY Award was established in memory of J. Patrick Barnes, who died at 33 of complications of Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), a little known but not uncommon auto-immune disease. (DAISY is an acronym for diseases attacking the immune system.) The care Patrick and his family received from nurses while he was ill inspired this unique means of thanking nurses for making a profound difference in the lives of their patients and families.
Patients, visitors, nurses, physicians and other employees may nominate a deserving nurse for The Daisy Award and a nurse will be selected by SBL’s DAISY committee every month to received this special honor. Nomination forms are located at www.sarahbush.org and at all SBL clinics and on patient floors. The forms can be submitted to any Sarah Bush Lincoln staff member, or sent via email to daisy@sblhs.org or mail to Sarah Bush Lincoln, DAISY Nursing Award, 1000 Health Center Drive, Mattoon, IL 61938. For more information, contact SBL DAISY coordinator, Cynthia Edwards, RN, at (217) 238 -3422 or cedwards@sblhs.org.