Tomah Health registered nurse Abbey Rose, BSN, RN, could not imagine doing anything but being a nurse. It is her passion for the profession that officials at Tomah Health selected Rose as the hospital’s first recipient of the nationally recognized DAISY Award.
“Abbey exemplifies to me what nursing is,” said hospital chief nursing officer Tracy Myhre, MSN, RN. “She has a passion for nursing and always takes any opportunity that she can to promote nursing and talk about the value that nurses bring to health care,” Myhre said.
Tomah Health began accepting nominations this spring for the DAISY Award.
The program was established by the not-for-profit DAISY Foundation, based in Glen Ellen, California, by family members in memory of J. Patrick Barnes, who at the age of 33, died in late 1999 from complications of Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), a little known but not uncommon auto-immune disease. Bonnie Barnes, FAAN, President and Co-Founder of The DAISY Foundation said the care Patrick and his family received from nurses while he was ill inspired this unique means of thanking nurses for making a difference in the lives of their patients and patient families.
Rose was one of 17 nurses at Tomah Health nominated for the award, which was selected by a five-member hospital committee and announced by members of the hospital’s Nurse Practice Council.
“I am extremely humbled and honored, and so grateful to work at an organization that supports nurses as Tomah Health does,” Rose said of the recognition. “It’s been a wonderful experience to take care of the people in our community.”
Rose has been a registered nurse at Tomah Health nine years. She started her career at Tomah Health as a certified nursing assistant (CNA) in 2005 and is currently a patient care coordinator. “It’s the hands-on that I have with the patients; the personal connection that I can make with them as soon as they walk thru the door knowing that they are usually at their worst moment and I’m able to help them through that,” Rose said what she enjoys most about nursing.
In her role in the hospital’s obstetrics department, known as the New Beginnings Birth Center, Rose was nominated for the DAISY Award for assisting a patient who was giving birth. “My son’s birth was an amazing experience and Abbey was a huge part of that,” the woman wrote in the nomination form. “She (Abbey) will forever hold a special place in my heart for the role she played that day.”
As part of the recognition, Rose’s name will be added to the national DAISY website.
Myhre said she was pleased with the number of nominees received for the first year of the program. “The thing that impressed me the most was that all our nominations came from patient family members, so people who actually had care here (Tomah Health) who talked about the nursing care that they received.”
Myhre, a 25-year nurse, said the DAISY Award also signifies the important role of nurses at Tomah Health. “It shows a commitment to the professional aspect of what nursing is and what it brings to the care that we provide our patients,” Myhre said. “I think it also helps to define that we are an organization that values nurses and sets us apart from other places.”
Myhre said the next DAISY Award recipient would be announced in May during National Nurse’s Week. She said patients, families and colleagues can nominate nurses using the DAISY Award nomination form located on the hospital’s website atwww.tomahhealth.org. Printed nomination forms are also located at the hospital.
“Nurses are heroes every day, and it’s important that our nurses know their work is highly valued, and the DAISY Foundation provides a way for us to do that,” Myhre added.
About 150 nurses work at Tomah Health.
To Nominate a Nurse, CLICK HERE