Two MedWest-Harris emergency department nurses recognized for their excellence with DAISY Awards
9/19/2012
Two MedWest-Harris emergency department nurses recognized for their excellence with DAISY Awards
Sylva, N.C. – For their exemplary work in the MedWest-Harris Emergency Department, registered nurses Chelsea Dennis and Tneshia Richards have been recognized by MedWest-Harris and the American Organization of Nurse Executives with DAISY Awards For Extraordinary Nurses.
The DAISY Awards are part of the California-based DAISY Foundation’s program that acknowledges the exceptional efforts nurses put forth in the caring of their patients every day.
Both Dennis and Richards were nominated for DAISY Awards by a woman visiting the MedWest-Harris Emergency Department with her husband, who was being treated as a patient there. While waiting for results and for the doctor to release her husband, the nominator wrote about the good care she observed the nurses providing to a woman being treated in the emergency department.
“They were always talking to her with utmost respect and consideration,” the nominator wrote of Dennis and Richards. “They were always pleasant and had a smile on their faces. These are the nurses that are priceless. They truly were angels that night to that woman. They were also polite and smiling to all the other patients that came through. They do deserve a pat on the back and some type of reward.”
Registered nurse Chelsea Dennis, a Sylva native who earned her bachelor of science in nursing degree from Western Carolina University, has worked in the MedWest-Harris Emergency Department since August 2011.
“I have learned more in the last year than I ever could've imagined -- not only from my co-workers but also from my patients,” Dennis said of her work in the MedWest-Harris Emergency Department. “I constantly am reminded as to why I chose this profession. Taking care of people and providing comfort in a time of hurt for patients and their families is something I take pride in every day.”
Registered nurse Tneshia Richards, who is originally from West Virginia, has been a nurse for eight years now with five of those years at MedWest-Harris.
“Working in the emergency room allows me the opportunity to provide clinical skills as well as a smiling face during a difficult time for my patients,” Richards said. “I enjoy caring for people in my community who are also my friends, family, coworkers and neighbors. This is my hospital, my community.”
Nurses from MedWest-Harris, MedWest-Haywood, MedWest-Swain and MedWest’s office practices, urgent care facilities and other outpatient facilities are all eligible for nomination for DAISY Awards.
All MedWest employees, physicians, patients, patients’ families and visitors are encouraged to submit nominations based on their own experiences with extraordinary nurses in the MedWest Health System. To nominate an extraordinary nurse, contact Tiffany Brackett at Tiffany.Brackett@haymed.org or (828) 452-8461. Nomination forms also are available at www.medwesthealth.org.
The nonprofit DAISY Foundation is based in Glen Ellen, Calif., and was established in memory of J. Patrick Barnes who died at the age of 33 in 1999 from complications of the autoimmune disease idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura. The care Barnes 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. For more information, visit www.DAISYfoundation.org.