Amanda Koester, RN, was honored with the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses at Sarah Bush Lincoln on December 2.
Koester was nominated for her attention to detail and teamwork. Her nominator wrote in part:
“It’s impossible to pick just one story to demonstrate why Amanda is one of the most deserving individuals for the DAISY award. Anyone who has ever worked with Amanda has seen her work very hard, running to call lights as fast as she can, and gives a lot of her time and energy for the betterment of her patients. Amanda goes above and beyond for her coworkers every day as well. She is a shining example of teamwork on 4 Medical and at Sarah Bush Lincoln. When Amanda comes to work, every patient on the unit is treated as if they were her responsibility.
Recently, a nurse on our unit was struggling with a difficult discharge. Even though Amanda had patients of her own, she set time aside to assist with this very difficult discharge because she had some minimal, extra knowledge from her previous day working as the admission, discharge, transfer (ADT) nurse. Without Amanda’s commitment to coworkers and patient care, this patient may have not gotten the supplies needed to care for his new diagnosis of diabetes, and his condition could have worsened. Amanda is truly an amazing coworker and an exceptional nurse.”
Sarah Bush Lincoln has joined more than 2,700 healthcare facilities by becoming a DAISY Award hospital partner. During the award presentation, Koester 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.