Nurses Honored with DAISY Award at St. Luke’s Health-Memorial Lufkin

Compassionate, caring, dedicated, committed, and kind. Nurses possess all of these attributes and more, but oftentimes, these hardworking men and women do not receive the thanks they deserve for the vital role they play in a patient’s experience.  St. Luke’s Health-Memorial Lufkin recently partnered with The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses to honor nurses who consistently demonstrate excellence through clinical expertise and extraordinary compassionate care. 

Recipients of the quarterly award were Terri Cornell, RN and Marcus Coates, RN.

“Our nurses are super stars,” said Shawn Barnett, Market COO and Lufkin President at St. Luke’s Health-Memorial.  “The DAISY Award is a great way to recognize our nurses and remind them of how much we appreciate them.  This award gives patients, physicians and coworkers a way to let our nurses know how important their work is.”

Patients, visitors, other nurses, physicians and hospital staff can submit nominations forms. 

One patient, who nominated Cornell, said she makes her patients feels like they are her top priority. The submitted nomination went on to say “if you have questions about your meds, doctor or anything else you may have on your heart, she will listen and always put your mind at rest.”  Another nomination described how Cornell established a special connection with the family of her patient.  “She is an optimistic, amazing RN! I wish there were more nurses like her.”

“It is difficult as a committee to read through the nominations and not want to give every nurse a DAISY Award,” said Jana Rains, RN, DAISY Award Committee Chair.  “As much as we value all of our nurses and their hard work, the committee felt that Terri and Marcus truly shined through the nominations they received.”

The nomination for Marcus Coates described how he demonstrates compassion and care in his work.  “He has such a kind and sweet spirit, he was truly concerned.  It was obvious that (the patient) was more than a medical record number. Marcus is the true definition of what a nurse should be!”

The DAISY Award nominee must meet certain criterion that includes exemplifying the following characteristics:

Reverence: establishes a special connection with patients and families through trust and emotional support
Integrity: maintains the trust and confidence of all with whom he/she engages
Compassion: is thoughtful, compassionate and caring in all situations
Excellence: strives for the highest quality and continuous improvement
Goes above and beyond to care for the needs of patients and families and takes time to educate and include the patient and family during the care process

Nomination forms are available throughout the St. Luke’s Health-Memorial Lufkin facility and online at https://www.CHIStLukesHealthMemorial.org.

The not-for-profit DAISY Foundation is based in Glen Ellen, CA, and was established by family members in memory of J. Patrick Barnes.  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.  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.

Recognition is one initiative of The DAISY Foundation in service to the nursing profession.  Additionally, DAISY offers J. Patrick Barnes Grants for Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice Projects, The DAISY Faculty Award to honor inspiring faculty members in schools and colleges of nursing, and The DAISY in Training Award for nursing students. More information is available at https://DAISYfoundation.org;