Two nurses from Tift Regional Medical Center (TRMC) were recently honored with the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses. The award is part of the DAISY Foundation's program to recognize the super-human efforts nurses perform every day.

Through nominations by patients, visitors and co-workers, nurses are selected periodically by a special committee to receive The DAISY Award. DAISY is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System.

The recipients of the TRMC DAISY Award are Colby Bearden, RN and Adrianne Roberts, RN, both in the TRMC intensive care unit (ICU).

Colby was nominated by a family member of an ICU patient who stated, “Since my dad has been in the ICU, he has received excellent care from several nurses, but this week something happened that shows the personal care and concern these nurses have for their patients. If anyone knows my dad, they know how much he loves ice cream. Dad is having trouble eating because he has a mouthful of ulcers and sores.”

“We told the nurse how much he loved ice cream and it would be good for him to eat since he is not able to eat much. Colby came to Dad’s room yesterday on his day off just to bring him a package of individual packs of Blue Bell ice cream. My heart almost burst right there! Now that is what it is all about. It seems so little but means so much,” said the patient’s family member.

Adrianne was nominated for the DAISY award by a co-worker for her recent encounter with a patient. The patient’s daughter wrote in a Facebook post, “Happy 65th Anniversary to my parents. Today was special not only for my mother, but for my sisters and I as well. What a blessing to have been raised by this amazing couple. It certainly wasn’t the ideal way to spend an anniversary but thanks to a very special nurse who made this moment happen through FaceTime.”

Tonia Garrett, VP & Chief Nursing Officer at TRMC praised the award recipients as well. “We are so proud of Colby and Adrianne for receiving this award. They are both fine examples of all the great nurses we employ at Southwell, who doextraordinary things for our patients and their families every day,” Garrett said.

“In our ALWAYS standards, we talk about ‘wowing’ our customers, taking small steps to make big impacts. I want to thank Colby and Adrianne, not just for talking the talk but for walking the walk. To these families and all of us at TRMC, you are both heroes,” said Garrett.

The DAISY Award was established by the DAISY Foundation in memory of J. Patrick Barnes, who died at age 33 of an auto- immune disease. The Barnes Family was awestruck by the clinical skills, caring and compassion of the nurses who cared for Patrick, so they created the national award to thank nurses everywhere.

One day while Patrick was in the hospital, he asked his family to bring him a Cinnabon® cinnamon roll plus enough for all the nurses in his unit. The DAISY Foundation carries on this tradition by serving cinnamon rolls prepared by the TRMC Food and Nutrition team to all the nurses in the award recipient’s unit in thanks for everything they do for their patients and families.

“A large celebratory banner is also displayed in the recipient's unit for a month, generating very positive conversation about the special role nurses play in patient care,” Garrett added.

For more information about the DAISY Foundation, visit their website at www.DAISYfoundation.org. For more information about TRMC, visit www.mysouthwell.com.