Hunterdon Health Nurse Receives The DAISY Award® For Extraordinary Nurses

TrudyAnn McKenna, RN-CPN, Pediatrics, received the Daisy Award for Hunterdon Health.  The award is part of the DAISY Foundation’s program to recognize the clinical skills and the compassion nurses provide to patients and families every day. 

A patient’s family wrote, “My mother has a blood disorder which now requires frequent treatments and subsequent platelet and blood transfusions.  The treatments generally run a week in total and may require platelet and blood transfusions with overnight stays in addition to the treatments.  My mother is 89 years old.  She was growing very tired and weak from the blood disorder and the treatments.  Her fatigue was such that she had almost no energy, and her will to fight forward was a struggle.  My mother had two stays at the hospital overnight in a span of two weeks for platelet and blood transfusions.  She received the blood transfusions and platelets in the pediatric unit as beds were at a premium.  Each time, she was taken care of by nurse Trudy McKenna.  Nurse Trudy took such exceptional care of my mother, worked on making my mother comfortable with every minute while in her care.  She boosted my mother’s frame of mind.  Made her happy, laughing and smiling again. My mother was reading between the lines and felt that the doctors had really no hope for her because, despite the superior care, she was back to square one with a very low platelet count and exhausted.  After the most recent consecutive stays for transfusions and platelets, my mother came home determined to work her way back. 

My mother cited nurse Trudy's unbelievable care and compassion.  She felt renewed.  My mother agreed to visit Dr. West, a palliative care specialist, and started a very active in-home physical therapy routine with as many as three visits per week. Her turnaround is magnificent.  My mother is up and about each and every day. She sleeps through the night. Takes our dog outside.  Sweeps the floors.  Does her own laundry.  My mother was staying in bed with nearly constant shouts of pain before this reversal. She loves life once again.  Thank you, Nurse Trudy.  No spoken thanks or written words could ever express what your magical touch meant.”

The not-for-profit DAISY Foundation is based in Glen Ellen, CA, and was established by family members in memory of J. Patrick Barnes.  Patrick died at the age of 33 in late 1999 from complications of Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), a little-known but not uncommon autoimmune 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 patients’ families.

Bonnie Barnes, FAAN, President and Co-Founder of The DAISY Foundation, said, “When Patrick was critically ill, our family experienced first-hand the remarkable skill and care nurses provide patients every day and night. Yet these unsung heroes are seldom recognized for the superhuman work they do.  The kind of work the nurses throughout Hunterdon Health are called on to do every day epitomizes the purpose of The DAISY Award.”

The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses has been adopted by 3,500 health care facilities and schools of nursing in all 50 states and 21 other countries, committed to honoring their nurses for their extraordinary care and compassion.  Individual nurses may be nominated by patients, families, and colleagues and they are chosen by a Hunterdon Health committee.

“We are proud to be among the healthcare organizations participating in the DAISY Award program.  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,” explained Chief Nursing Officer and Vice President of Patient Care Services, Mary Jo Loughlin, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, Hunterdon Health.

DAISY Award recipients are presented with a certificate, a DAISY Award pin, a beautiful hand-carved serpentine stone sculpture from Zimbabwe, and a spotlight page on The DAISY Foundation website, featuring a photo and telling the story of why this nurse was honored. 

At each award presentation, all the nurses and staff in the recipient’s unit are treated to cinnamon rolls. The reason?  Once, Patrick ate his father’s cinnamon roll when he was in the hospital without an appetite for food.  He then requested one for the next day, and enough for all the nurses in the unit.

To nominate a nurse who works for Hunterdon Health or to learn more, visit the Daisy Award.