WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — Students and faculty in Pennsylvania College of Technology’s nursing program will soon be honored with The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nursing Students and The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nursing Faculty.
The awards are part of The DAISY Foundation’s mission to express gratitude to nurses through programs that recognize them for the extraordinary, compassionate and skillful care they provide patients and families.
The DAISY Foundation is a not-for-profit organization, established in memory of J. Patrick Barnes by members of his family. Barnes died at the age of 33 in late 1999 from complications of Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), a little known but not uncommon autoimmune disease. (DAISY is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System.) The care Barnes and his family received from nurses while he was ill inspired the creation of The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses, an evidence-based means of providing nurse recognition and thanking nurses for making a profound difference in the lives of their patients and patient families.
The DAISY Foundation expanded its flagship brand, The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses, to academic institutions in order to recognize the faculty who inspire compassionate care in their students and the students who demonstrate it during their education.
“We honor faculty who inspire nurses to care like Patrick’s nurses cared for him and for our family. Recognizing and celebrating nursing students for the above-and-beyond care and compassion they show to patients and their families will be a strong reminder that nursing is not all about tasks and technology,” said Bonnie Barnes, CEO and co-founder of The DAISY Foundation.
Nursing faculty and students may be nominated by colleagues, peers, patients, families or alumni. The award recipients are chosen by a committee in Penn College’s nursing program. One faculty award and three student awards will be presented each year during pre-commencement “pinning” ceremonies for graduating nursing students.
Each honoree receives a certificate, a DAISY Award pin, and a sculpture called “A Healer’s Touch,” hand-carved by artists of the Shona Tribe in Zimbabwe.
“We are excited to partner with The DAISY Foundation, a nationally recognized program, to offer The DAISY awards to faculty and students,” said Valerie A. Myers, the college’s assistant dean of nursing. “Nursing faculty and students go above and beyond to care for others, and these awards allow us to show our appreciation for their dedication and commitment to their patients and the nursing profession. We are very proud to be offering these awards for the first time in May.”
In addition to The Daisy Award for Extraordinary Nursing Faculty and The Daisy Award for Extraordinary Nursing Students, the foundation expresses gratitude to the nursing profession internationally in more than 3,600 health care facilities and schools of nursing with recognition of direct-care nurses, nurse-led teams, nurse leaders and lifetime achievement in nursing, and through the J. Patrick Barnes Grants for Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice Projects.
To learn more about Penn College’s master’s, bachelor’s and associate-degree nursing majors, call 570-327-4525 or visit www.pct.edu/nursing.
For information about Penn College, a national leader in applied technology education, visit www.pct.edu, email admissions@pct.edu or call toll-free 800-367-9222.