O’FALLON, IL – HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Hospital presented the quarterly National DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses and the Being Extraordinary Everyday (BEE) Award to two deserving colleagues.
Nicole Helfrich, RN, from the labor and delivery unit, received the DAISY Award. The award is part of the DAISY Foundation’s nationwide program to recognize the superhuman efforts nurses perform every day.
Several patients nominated Helfrich. One submission stated, “Literally everything she did was done with the utmost care, gentleness, and compassion. She even texted the night nurse when she was off work to check on me. She came from the other area of the department to check on me the next time she worked. She kept me well informed about all medicine being administered, why it was prescribed and what to expect. Overall her attitude and helpfulness made [our] experience much more positive and stress free than it could have been for a 5-week premature birth.”
Other nursing colleagues receiving individual nominations this quarter included Christina Weibley, RN in labor and delivery, and Sybrina Lindsay, RN from telemetry.
To complement the DAISY Award, the BEE Award was created to recognize outstanding teamwork provided by support colleagues in other departments.
This quarter’s BEE awardee is transporter Lauren Mank. A colleague nominated Mank and shared, “Lauren is amazing! On more than one occasion she has stayed to help get someone settled which helps the nurses out tremendously. A personal experience of this was when she and I transported a sweet, elderly patient upstairs who then became tearful because she was scared to be in a new place and around new people. Lauren reassured the patient and talked with her to calm her down and told her she would come back and visit. And, on multiple days after that, I saw Lauren visiting with that patient.
“She goes above and beyond to not only make the patients happy but also to be as helpful as she can to the nurses and staff all while keeping a big smile on her face.”
Additional colleagues recognized for BEE nominations include Allison Bartholomew, radiation therapist; Madison Blissenbach, CNA; Autumn Hunsinger, CNA; and Lindsey Mank, endoscopy clinical technician.
Distribution of the nationally recognized DAISY Award and St. Elizabeth’s Hospital’s BEE Award have been made possible through funds provided by HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Foundation.
Nominations for future DAISY,BEE and other awards at St. Elizabeth’s continue to be accepted. Patients and visitors are encouraged to share and submit their story of witnessing excellent and compassionate care from staff. Award descriptions and online form can be found at hshs.org/StElizabeths/Patients-Guests/Recognize-a-Colleague.
