Extraordinary nurses recognized at MMC with DAISY Awards

Two exceptional nurses at Memorial Medical Center were recently honored with The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses®. The award is part of the worldwide DAISY Foundation’s mission to recognize the extraordinary, compassionate care that nurses provide patients and families every day. The hard work of all the nurses at Memorial is recognized, but the care and compassion displayed by these two award recipients deserves special recognition.

The DAISY Award recipients at Memorial for the second quarter of 2021 are Angelina Holguin, an RN in Telemetry, and Rhiamie McMurray, an RN in the Observation Unit. The nurses were nominated by patients and family members of patients they cared for in our facility.

“Angie was just exceptional,” a patient’s husband wrote in their nomination for Holguin. “She was particularly accepting and inclusive of me to my same-sex husband. (The patient) required fairly intensive care due to his Parkinson’s. She spent a lot of time caring for him and really cared. Please commend Angie for her exceptional attitude and care.”

“She is the best nurse I have ever had; she took such good care of me,” a patient wrote of Rhiamie’s compassion. “She would come and fix my pillow, adjust my bed and see that I was comfortable. She really deserves being a nurse. She would come right away when I needed her. She deserves something special.”

The DAISY Foundation is a nonprofit organization established in memory of J. Patrick Barnes by members of his family. Patrick 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.) 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 patient families.

“We are proud that our participation in the DAISY Program is a powerful way we continue to honor the hard work of our nurses,” said Caryn Iverson, Chief Nursing Officer at Memorial Medical Center. “Recognition and celebration mean more now than ever before as nurses tackle the challenges of COVID-19 in addition to their usual roles.”

Nurses may be nominated by patients, families and physicians. The DAISY award recipient is then chosen by a committee at Memorial Medical Center. Awards are presented throughout the year at celebrations attended by the Honoree’s colleagues, patients and visitors. Each Honoree receives a certificate commending her or him as an “Extraordinary Nurse.” The certificate reads: “In deep appreciation of all you do, who you are, and the incredibly meaningful difference you make in the lives of so many people.” Honorees also receive a DAISY Award pin and a beautiful and meaningful sculpture called “A Healer’s Touch,” hand-carved by artists of the Shona Tribe in Zimbabwe.

Would you like to express gratitude to a Memorial Medical Center nurse that went above and beyond? Nurses may be nominated by patients, families and physicians. To nominate a nurse from Memorial for the DAISY Award online, please visit: DaisyNomination.org/mmclc.