Walter Reed National Military Medical Center  –   Walter Reed recognized two of its nursing team members on February 6 for the extraordinary care they recently provided patients at the hospital.

Elena Tavenner of 5 West and Caroline Luyimbazi of Cardiology Service received DAISY Awards at their worksites with their colleagues looking on.

Army Col. Wendy Woodall, director for nursing and chief nursing officer at Walter Reed, presented Tavenner and Luyimbazi their awards, stating, “This is one of my favorite things to do as a way we recognize nursing care excellence.”

DAISY stands for Diseases Attacking the Immune System. The family of J. Patrick Barnes established the DAISY Award out of appreciation for the nursing care he received during the last year of his life at a Seattle, Washington hospital during the late 1990s while battling Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), an autoimmune disease. Today, an estimated 5,800 health care facilities and schools of nursing in all 50 states and 38 countries and territories participate in the DAISY Award program, according to coordinators for the program. Winners receive a certificate, pin, and stone sculpture, “The Healer’s Touch,” hand-carved serpentine piece of stone by the Shona people in Zimbabwe, who have profound respect for their tribal healers, according to DAISY program officials.

Joan LoepkerDuncan, chief nurse in charge of the Cardiology Service and coordinator for the DAISY recognition program at Walter Reed, explained that a committee of the hospital’s nurses accepts nominations for the award from patients, nurses, staff members, families of patients, and others. The committee determines the honoree from the nominations based on the criteria for receiving the award, which includes compassion and kindness, patient care, professionalism, and role modeling.

A patient’s family member nominated Tavenner for the DAISY Award, stating, “This nurse is one in a million. My husband [was] diagnosed with acute myeloma leukemia. This nurse took time to listen. She has such an incredible outstanding knowledge and answers all our questions. She is a great advocate for me and my husband. She cares for all my husband’s requests and plans carefully and thoughtfully every step of the way. Thanks to her, my husband can go on a walk, [and] use the shower, [and she] made it all happen.”

A provider nominated Luyimbazi for the DAISY Award, stating, “I want to commend this nurse on her patience and competence helping out in the clinic today. I saw a patient with autism spectrum disorder who was referred for a possible arrhythmia. He is easily frightened by new experiences, [and] in the past, he has required sedation for simple vaccines and lab draws. Through this nurse’s patience and friendly approach, she was able to make the patient feel comfortable during his vitals, and we were able to obtain an ECG and a blood pressure, which both were very useful in his assessment. This nurse does solid work every day, but I wanted to highlight this extra effort that really made this patient encounter a success.”