Eight caregivers honored with awards

May 15, 2021 — PeaceHealth Peace Harbor Hospital announced its 2021 Nursing Excellence Award honorees at a recognition ceremony on Wednesday, May 12, in Florence. 

There were eight individuals honored during the ceremony and all were nominated by co-workers in seven different categories: Educator, collaborator, leader, clinician, advocate, innovator and support colleague.

“The hospital and clinics’ Nursing Excellence Awards recognize nursing caregivers who embody the role of the professional nurse, as well as other members of the patient care team who provide exemplary support services. These special caregivers were nominated by their peers,” said PeaceHealth Communications Coordinator Anne Williams. 

There was also a special presentation made, The Daisy Award, to acknowledge the overall contributions to patient care, which was given to Brittany Countryman.

A nurse in the Emergency Department at Peace Harbor Medical Center, Countryman was nominated by a patient who appreciated her calm, compassionate care in response to an uncomfortable situation. 

The patient went on to say, “She was so great, sweet, calm and she made me less embarrassed. Thank you for not judging me and being a great nurse!” 

The Daisy Award is a special recognition that was created to honor caregivers at PHPH after a patient, Patrick Barnes, was treated at a PeaceHealth facility. While Barnes’ struggle with an auto-immune disease was ultimately unsuccessful, his family was so appreciative of the care he received they established the “Daisy Award” to recognize the special work done by all PeaceHealth employees.

Tena Barnes, Patrick’s wife, came up with the acronym “DAISY,” which stands for Diseases Attacking the Immune System, and the family set up a scholarship program in addition to the awards presented to Peace Harbor employees.

“We are so blessed that we were able to spend the eight weeks of his hospitalization with him and his family. During those weeks, we experienced the best of nursing,” said Patrick’s father, Mark Barnes. “We were there to see the clinical skill that dealt with his very complex medical situation, the fast thinking of nurses who saved his life more than once, and that nursing excellence that took years to hone to the best of the profession.”

Barnes added that, as a patient family, he expected Pat would have great clinical care.

“What we did not expect was the way his nurses delivered that care — the kindness and compassion they gave Pat and all of us in his family every day,” he said. “We were awed by the way the nurses touched him and spoke with him, even when he was on a ventilator and totally sedated. The way they informed and educated us eased our minds. They truly helped us through the darkest hours of our lives, with soft voices of hope and strong loving hugs that to this day, we still feel.”

The award winners for the other categories were Nurse as Educator: Joseph Brinkman, RN- Operating Room; Nurse as Collaborator: Casey Hand, RN-Operating Room; Nurse as Leader: Bruce Brown, RN-Employee Health; Nurse as Clinician: Kim Stinger, RN-Medical; Nurse as Advocate: Carrie Ramsey, RN-Medical; Nurse as Innovator: Michelle Russell, RN-Recovery Room; Nursing Support Colleague: Libby Araujo, CNA.