By Jennifer Larson, contributor
The next time you catch the scent of cinnamon wafting through the air, think of a nurse you admire. Think of a nurse who mentored you. Think of all the nurses who go to work and care for patients as if they were their own family members.
For Bonnie Barnes, the smell of cinnamon reminds her of the selfless nurses who cared for her stepson, Patrick Barnes, when he was in a Seattle hospital, struggling with complications from a condition called Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura, or ITP.
Pat Barnes was a vibrant young man who died far too young at the age of 33 from ITP. But the care that he received from his nurses struck a chord that still resonates with his father, Mark, and his stepmother.
So, with the help of other family members, the Barneses established the DAISY Foundation in 2000 to raise awareness and funds for ITP research and to honor outstanding nurses—like the ones who took care of Pat in the frightening, wee hours of the night when things always seemed to go wrong.
“We were inspired by the nurses who saved his life more than once through the night,” said Bonnie Barnes. “They were so caring and so skilled.”
As part of the DAISY Foundation (DAISY stands for Diseases Attacking the Immune System), Bonnie and Mark established the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses. The awards program was designed to encourage hospitals to honor their hard-working nurses who do “amazing things” every day.
Bonnie Barnes said that, too often, she hears nurses demur when they receive praise, saying, “I didn’t do anything special. I’m just doing my job.”
“That’s the nursing mantra,” she said. “But they make such a huge difference to the patient and the family…We want them to know that they may take it for granted, but we don’t.”
The awards program started with ten hospitals. Today, there are nearly 400 hospitals across the United States that honor their nurses with a DAISY Award.
“It is such a moving award for nurses,” said Laura Caramanica, Ph.D., RN, chief nursing officer at Westchester Medical Center in New York, who brought the program to her hospital over a year ago. “They feel profoundly recognized for what they do.”
Caramanica noted that the presentation ceremonies can be quite emotional, something that Mary Dee Hacker, RN, MBA, says is also true for her hospital, which instituted the program in 2004.
“I absolutely love having this award to present to our nurses,” said Hacker, the vice president for patient care services and chief nursing officer at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and a board member for the DAISY Foundation. “It’s the best thing I do.”
At Children’s, the award-winning nurse’s colleagues and family members gather in a conference room to wait for the ceremony, which is always planned as a surprise. The good feelings in the room are nearly palpable, Hacker said, as tears flow and the laughter surges around the room.
As part of each ceremony, the story of Pat Barnes is always told aloud, to keep his memory alive. As a result, many nurses feel very connected to him—they can relate to the situation, and it makes it that much more meaningful, Caramanica said.
Each nurse who receives an award—most hospitals offer them monthly—receives a certificate, an award pin and a sculpture entitled “A Healer’s Touch,” which is hand-carved by artists of the Shona tribe in Zimbabwe.
The nurses also receive certificates for boxes of Cinnabon® rolls to share with their coworkers. Why that specific treat?
Because during his last weeks of treatment in Seattle, Pat Barnes asked his family to bring boxes of the cinnamon rolls to his hospital room to eat; the fragrant rolls were among the few things he could face eating during his treatments. But he didn’t just think of himself. He asked his family to bring extra boxes so he could share them with the nurses who cared for him.
So it seemed fitting that the family would find a way to incorporate Pat’s favorite treat into the DAISY Awards, somehow. Cinnabon’s parent company, Focus Foods, agreed to become a major sponsor and provide cinnamon rolls and jars of cinnamon to the nurses who received recognition. Bonnie Barnes said she likes the idea of people stopping to think about “the unsung heroes” who are nurses when they smell that very distinctive scent.
The DAISY foundation continues to expand and build partnerships. In 2007, it launched the J. Patrick Barnes Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice Grants Projects program to fund nurses who want to conduct research into treatment for patients with auto-immune diseases. And early last year, the foundation entered into a partnership with the American Organization of Nurse Executives. Caramanica was a member of the AONE-DAISY Foundation steering committee that launched the partnership.
The Barnes family is delighted and gratified by the momentum the program has picked up over the years, and Bonnie Barnes hopes that it continues.
“We know that he would just love this,” she said of her stepson. “It’s so in keeping with his personality.”
As of December 2008, more than 3,000 nurses have received the DAISY Award. For information on establishing the award at your facility, visit the DAISY Foundation Web site.
© 2009. AMN Healthcare, Inc. All Rights Reserved.