Lincolnland Hospice Nurse Michelle Homann-Kersey, RN, was honored with the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses at Sarah Bush Lincoln on Feb. 14
Homann-Kersey was nominated by Lincolnland Manager Nancy Sehy for consistently going above and beyond to meet the needs of each person she cares for.
“Michelle is committed to providing the best possible care for her patients and their families and she always does more than what’s expected,” Sehy wrote. “She spends as much time as needed to meet each person’s needs and then she goes further.” Sehy shared an example in which Homann-Kersey decided to forgo her department’s Christmas party to return to the hospital to check on a patient. When she discovered the patient was encountering difficulty with medication, she tracked down the patient’s doctor and personally went to the pharmacy to find the necessary IV infusion tubing to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. “Michelle then stayed until she was assured the patient was responding well and was comfortable,” Sehy said. “This type of behavior-dogged perseverance to ensure patient comfort, and commitment to co-workers by going above and beyond, is definitely what defines her as deserving of the DAISY Award.”
Sarah Bush Lincoln has joined more than 2,400 healthcare facilities by becoming a DAISY Award hospital partner. During the award presentation, Homann-Kersey 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.