Dennis receives prestigious nursing award

Bothwell Regional Health Center recently presented its latest DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses to Verena Dennis.

The DAISY Award is for patients and their families to nominate nurses who give outstanding, compassionate and skillful care. Dennis is a Registered Nurse and works in the hospital’s Progressive Care Unit (PCU); she was nominated by a patient she cared for during a hospital stay of more than two weeks.

“My message today is a thank you for this wonderful nurse that goes out of her way to care for the people she is in charge of,” the patient wrote. “Her attitude and willingness to do what is necessary have been such a blessing. Of all the nurses I have been involved with, she is the most outgoing, willing person I have ever met. My thanks to her for sharing her life with those who need her.”

Dennis joined Bothwell in early 2020 as a charge nurse on the hospital’s Medical and Surgical unit on 2 Southwest. She has worked in the PCU since 2022 and helps with employee education. She said her path into nursing began when she was a teenager.

“I was 14 when my grandma was diagnosed with cancer,” Dennis said. “She had inpatient chemo and later a bilateral mastectomy, so I visited her often during that time. Seeing how much strangers cared for her and helped her improve, I knew that was exactly what I wanted to do.”

For Dennis, the best part of nursing is helping patients take charge of their own health.

“The most rewarding aspect is reaching a patient, helping them make a change and become a steward of their own health,” she said.

Dennis was presented with a certificate congratulating her for being an “Extraordinary Nurse.” She also received a box of cinnamon rolls, a daisy bouquet, a DAISY Award pin and a sculpture called “A Healer’s Touch,” hand-carved by artists of the Shona Tribe in Africa. A DAISY Award banner recognizing her will hang in PCU and Dennis’ name will appear on the DAISY Foundation website.

The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses was started in 1999 in Glen Ellen, California, by members of the family of Patrick Barnes, who died at the age of 33 of complications from an autoimmune disease. The care his nurses provided was the inspiration for the DAISY (Diseases Attacking the Immune System) Award.

An international award, the DAISY is awarded in more than 6,000 health care facilities and schools of nursing around the world, including 39 countries and territories. Bothwell Regional Health Center began recognizing its nurses with the DAISY Award in 2018. Jessica Wheeler, Shari Thomasson, Shasta Nardi, Courtney Rumans, Sarah Plante, Connie Roll, Ronda McMullin, Sarah Fredrickson, Sherri Egbert, Leslie Shapley, Seth Stotts, Stacey Nassar, Helen Fisher, Donna Cline, Linda Lower, Sarah Cordes, Reilly O’Shea, Heather Kaneko, Jenice Serrano, Emma Stone, Mattie Mergen, Patty King, Charli Carl and Kylie Musgrave are previous recipients. 

To learn more or to submit a nomination, visit brhc.org/daisy.