Lincolnland Hospice Nurse Cassie Rich, RN, was honored with the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses at Sarah Bush Lincoln on July 22.
Rich was nominated for her thorough nursing and compassion while helping a patient through a highly sensitive matter. The nominator wrote in part:
“Cassie showed us excellent patient and family care. She was not the nurse we typically saw, but she came at a critical point in my husband’s care. She spent time getting to know our family. We have three intellectually-disabled young adults in our household. She took the time to explain to me what was happening and drew up the medication for me so it was already prepared. I had to call several times, and she was always pleasant with me.
When my husband passed, she came back to the house to help us through a very hard and stressful experience. She ensured the kids were completely okay and talked to them. She made a lot of phone calls for me, including the funeral home. Cassie really went above and beyond to make our transition as easy and stress-free as losing a loved one could be.”
Sarah Bush Lincoln has joined more than 2,700 healthcare facilities by becoming a DAISY Award hospital partner. During the award presentation, Rich 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 receive 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, SBL DAISY interim coordinator, Tracey McCord, RN, at (217) 238-4987 or tmccord@sblhs.org.