Pictured, from left, are Judean Guinn, CNO; Tara Skiffin, clinical manager; Kaitlyn Blankenship; Brandy Salazar, Critical Care director; and Sandy McKenzie, president and CEO of HMC.
Kaitlyn Blankenship, a nurse in Hamilton Medical Center’s surgical intensive care unit, recently received the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses. The DAISY Award recognizes exemplary nursing excellence, and is the highest honor a nurse can receive at HMC.
Ms. Blankenship was nominated for "going above and beyond in caring for patients." She received multiple nominations, praising her for her competence, communication skills, calming demeanor, dedication, compassion, professionalism, empathy, kindness and deep understanding of critical care.
The award, presented in collaboration with The American Organization of Nurse Executives, is part of the DAISY Foundation’s program to recognize the super-human efforts nurses perform every day.
DAISY Award recipients receive an honorary DAISY pin, a banner to display on their unit, an award certificate and the Healer’s Touch, a hand-carved sculpture by the Shona tribe in Zimbabwe.
The sculpture is especially meaningful because of the profound respect the Shona tribe gives to their traditional “healers.” A Shona healer is affectionately regarded as a treasure by those they are caring for which describes exactly how the DAISY Foundation and Hamilton feel about nurses, officials said.
Seventy other nurses were also nominated for the award. They include: Jojelyn Balili, Betty Wang, Teresia Williams, Emily Sardina, Jisha Roberts, Jason Harrod, Kara Seffernick, Kim Davis, Jaime Simulis, Katie Butler, Jessica Traffanstedt, Sharon Reeves, Ashley Ballew, Emily Allen, Anna Fleming, Angela Brown, Diana Heredia, Matt Henson, Zach Henson, Savannah Mabel, Donna Ivy, Shane Carroll, Scott Cavanaugh, Amy Neighbors, Cesar Lee, Allison Roberts, Elvira Hernandez Moya, Diana Ramos, Jenerfier Pritchett, Isela Rios, Molly Becker, Chadwick Nash, Alison Caraway, Kim Ledford, Joann Johnson, Gabriela Perez, Laura Thomison, Alan Fincher, Steven Sukow, Danielle Tate, Michael Obear, Samantha Childress, Madisen Strickland, Krishna Bemis, Carolina Gomez, Teresa Teasley, Jennifer Patrick, Karen Torres, Julia Taylor, Alice Williams, Stephanie Gravitt, Emma Wheeler, Meghan O’Toole, Hanna Osuch, Rob Marks, Jessica Hix, Sherry Arp, Brandy Southerland, Allison Cartledge, Christie Brewer, Ashley Ridley, Williams Owens, Jennifer Araiza, Brittany Coffey, Rachael Johnson, Jessica Stapp, Brandi Hooper, Karina Smith, Tiffany Burns, Crystal Ward, Allison Jones, Rebecca Sane, Paige Brown, Lorrie Gibson, Audrey Stegeman, Anita Dunn and Fallyn Hernandez.
The not-for-profit DAISY Foundation is based in Glen Ellen, Ca., and was established by family members in memory of J. Patrick Barnes. Mr. Barnes died at the age of 33 in late 1999 from 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.