Ashley Maiuri, RN was honored as the winner of the Columbia Memorial Hospital DAISY Award for the first quarter of 2011 in a celebration held May 2 at the hospital.
The Daisy Award cites a hospital staffer who is compassionate, empathetic, dependable, caring, and is a dedicated patient advocate. The winner's department, by hospital tradition, enjoys a platter of cinnamon buns to help celebrate the award winner's success representing their department.
The nominations are judged by peers and are graded on specific criteria developed by the Nursing Recruitment and Retention Director, Cathy DeChance. To maintain fairness, personal identifying data of the nominee is hidden.
The award was established by the DAISY Foundation of Glen Ellen, California, to "recognize the super-human work nurses do every day all over the country."
Spearheading that effort are Mark and Bonnie Barnes, whose son, Patrick, died at the age of 33 of complications of idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, a condition where a patient has an abnormally low platelet count of no known cause.
The Barnes said that there are now 860 hospitals around the country that participate in the awards.
The Barnes were in attendance at the May 2 presentation, making the occasion extra special for Maiuri. The Ghent resident and Columbia- Greene Community College nursing program graduate has worked on 4A, the surgical wing, since joining the hospital in July, 2010.
"This was my first job as a nurse. I was very surprised to receive the award. There are so many great nurses and staff members here," said Maiuri.
"We thank you and bless you for what you do every single day," Mark Barnes said.
"We are impressed with what you had to do to become a nurse, and for your incredible gift of compassion and caring. You make life bearable for your patients."
Nominees for Columbia Memorial's first quarter DAISY Award were Kaitlyn Baker, Kerry Byrne, Kimberly Cooper, Mary Daggett, Angel L.
Damon, Michelle Edgeworth, Susan Ellis, Cathy French, Heidi Gerlach, Richard Hodges, Jack Kehrer, Barbara J. Kellerhouse, Lisa Kirby, Thornton Lewis, Ashley Maiuri, Peter Masti, Kevin Novak, Wanda Oakes, Jaime Sawyer, Marianne Schulze, Abby Shook, Cathy Sohotra-Schneider, Susan Sparacino, Sherice Stivale, Elizabeth Surprise, Kelly Transue, Kathleen Whitehurst, and Gail Woods. Vice-President of Clinical and Patient Services, Leitha Pierro, introduced past DAISY Award winners and the first quarter nominees and said that although the award was intended by the Barnes for nurses only, "Columbia Memorial takes a team approach in providing patient care. We open the nominations to anyone involved in patient care. We all work together."
"It isn’t just the clinical excellence" that nurses and other caregivers provide that makes them DAISY Award winners, said Bonnie Barnes.
"It’s what is given above and beyond. It's the extras."
Hospital President Jane Ehrlich thanked the Barnes for attending the award ceremony. "The Barnes have taken a tragic moment in their lives and turned it into something positive," she said.
