Stone receives DAISY award
Bothwell Regional Health Center recently presented its latest DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses to Emma Stone.
The DAISY Award is for patients and their families to nominate nurses who give outstanding, compassionate and skillful care. Stone is a Registered Nurse and works in the hospital’s Critical Care Unit (CCU); she was nominated by Bailey Poynter, the sister of a recent patient.
“I am so thankful Emma was the nurse for my brother,” Poynter said. “She was an angel in a very dark place. For us, she made light. I hope everyone gets a nurse like Emma. We may have lost my brother, but Emma made sure he was comfortable and well taken care of. Thank you, Emma, for all that you do.”
Stone has worked at Bothwell for five years. She began at the hospital as a nurse intern working in Orthopedics. After one year, she transitioned to the CCU during the height of the COVID pandemic. She graduated from Central Methodist University in 2021 with her bachelor’s degree in Nursing and has remained in the CCU since, considering it her professional home.
For Stone, nursing is about deeply impacting lives and forming meaningful connections.
“I pursued nursing because I truly loved helping others,” she said. “Originally, I was on the path to sonography and needed a Certified Nursing Assistant certificate for the program. After working in long-term care, I fell in love with the profession and changed to nursing.”
Megan Elwood, an RN in Bothwell’s Clinical Education department, presented Stone 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 CCU and Stone’s name will appear on the DAISY Foundation website.
Stone said receiving the DAISY Award felt surreal.
“I am amazed that the patient’s family decided to nominate me despite them actively grieving the loss of their brother,” she said. “The experience with the patient was sadly short; however, I spent quite a bit of time with his family. They were beyond caring and had survived many losses before. I truly respected them for their strength and the comfort they provided their brother. This award is not just a reflection of my work but also of the incredible team I work with every day.”
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 and Jenice Serrano are previous recipients.
To learn more or to submit a nomination, visit brhc.org/daisy.