Lincolnland Homecare Nurse Monica Callaway, RN, was honored with the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses at Sarah Bush Lincoln on October 17.
Callaway was nominated by Lincolnland Homecare Manager Kelley Hennigh for going above and beyond to provide exceptional care to a gentleman in need. In a nomination letter, Hennigh wrote:
“Kudos to home health nurse Monica Callaway for visiting a patient in a local hotel and spending more than four hours with him to help him get settled. Monica and social worker Diane Snow, then met with a family member who was able to help for five days.
Monica ran out and got the gentleman some food to eat because he had not had anything to eat or drink since he left the hospital and the room had no means for him to cook, warm or store food. She spent hours taking medications out of bubble packs and putting them in a med box for him to take for accuracy. She also had the patient demonstrate that he could test his own blood sugar and give himself an insulin injection. Monica also spent hours calling numerous local long-term care facilities to try to get him placed, going above and beyond to meet his needs.”
Sarah Bush Lincoln has joined more than 2,400 healthcare facilities by becoming a DAISY Award hospital partner. During the award presentation, Callaway 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.