Nominate your favorite Three Rivers Hospital nurse

BREWSTER - Starting this year, nurses at Three Rivers Hospital will be honored with The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses. The award is part of the DAISY Foundation's program to recognize the hard work, dedication and quality care that nurses provide every day.
The hospital is now welcoming nominations for Registered Nurses (RNs) and Licensed Nurse Practitioners (LPNs). Nomination forms are available in English and Spanish throughout the facility, and online at www.threerivershospital.net. Anyone, from patients and visitors to coworkers and physicians, can submit nominations.
“We are proud to be among the healthcare organizations participating in the DAISY Award program,” said Chief Nursing Officer Gretchen Aguilar. “Nurses are heroes every day. It’s important that our nurses know their work is highly valued, and The DAISY Foundation provides a way for us to do that.”
Each May during National Nurses Week, a nurse will be selected by Three Rivers Hospital’s employee recognition committee to receive The DAISY Award.  At a presentation given in front of colleagues, physicians, patients, and visitors, the honoree will receive a certificate commending her or him for being an "Extraordinary Nurse." The certificate reads: "In deep appreciation of all you do, who you are, and the incredibly meaningful difference you make in the lives of so many people." The honoree will also be given a sculpture called A Healer’s Touch, hand-carved by artists of the Shona Tribe in Africa.
DAISY Award nominees will be selected and honored monthly with a daisy pin and certificate of appreciation from Aguilar, and their photo will be displayed in a new glass display case in the hospital lobby. From those nominees, the annual honoree will be chosen.
The not-for-profit DAISY Foundation is based in Glen Ellen, Calif., and was established by family members in memory of J. Patrick Barnes. Patrick died at the age of 33 in 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.
"When Patrick was critically ill, our family experienced first-hand the remarkable skill and care nurses provide patients every day and night,” said Bonnie Barnes, president and co-founder of The DAISY Foundation. “Yet these unsung heroes are seldom recognized for the super-human work they do. The kind of work the nurses at Three Rivers Hospital are called on to do every day epitomizes the purpose of The DAISY Award.”