Kaitlin Denson, RN, was honored with the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses at Sarah Bush Lincoln on December 13.
Denson was nominated by a coworker for always going above and beyond to care for her patients. Her nominator wrote:
“Kaitlin is amazing. It’s hard to name just one occurrence because she is always going above and beyond for her patients. She treats her patients like they are her loved ones and she always gives a helping hand to her coworkers as well. I know I can always call her if I need help with a patient or just as a resource to help answer any questions a family or patient might have.
Kaitlin and I took care of someone recently who was going to be told that she had cancer. What was thought to be something else turned into the worse news the patient and her family was going to hear. Kaitlin sat at the bedside and cried with the patient and comforted her on the worse day of her life, which was what she needed. It broke our hearts, but the patient couldn’t thank her enough for getting all the appointments set-up so she didn’t have to worry about it when she went home. She is an incredible nurse and Sarah Bush Lincoln is so lucky to have an outstanding nurse like her.”
Sarah Bush Lincoln has joined more than 2,400 healthcare facilities by becoming a DAISY Award hospital partner. During the award presentation, Denson 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.