Alyson Bennett, a registered nurse at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, care for patient Ann Racy, of Lawrence, on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2012. LMH has partnered with the DAISY Foundation to recognize extraordinary nurses. The first DAISY award will be presented in May at LMH. by Richard Gwin

Twelve years ago, J. Patrick Barnes died at age 33 of complications from an autoimmune disease just eight weeks after developing symptoms.

His stepmother, Bonnie Barnes, described the disease, Idiopathic Thrombocytopenia Purpura, as progressive and gruesome. He was transferred from a hospital in Amarillo, Texas, to Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

“It was an intense time with high levels of emotion every night and day,” she said, adding that Patrick and his wife, Tena, had just had their first child.

“The good thing was we got to be with him and no words were left unsaid, and the other good thing was that for the first time in our lives we got to see what nurses do every day,” she said.

She said the family and Patrick were touched by their compassion.

“It was the little things that they did in the way that they touched him and the way they talked to him even when he was on a ventilator and even the little things they did for us as a family that made such a difference in our experience during those weeks,” Barnes said.

Patrick and Tena Barnes are pictured at balloon festival in Albuquerque in 1999. Later that year, Patrick died of complications from an autoimmune disease at age 33. His family established The DAISY Foundation in memory of Patrick and to honor the extraordinary nurses that helped take care of him while he was in the hospital.

Patrick Barnes enjoys hula hooping in 1999. Later that year, he died of complications from an autoimmune disease. His family established The Daisy Foundation in memory of him and to honor the nurses who helped take care of him during his eight weeks in the hospital. Since its founding, more than 8,000 nurses have been recognized.

Patrick and Tena Barnes, of Amarillo, Texas, are pictured with their first child, Riley, in 1999. Just six weeks after Riley was born, Patrick began experiencing symptoms of an autoimmune disease. He died eight weeks later when Riley was 14 weeks old. The Barnes family has established The DAISY Foundation in memory of Patrick and in honor of the nurses who took care of him. Riley — now 12 years old — is considered the DAISY mascot and attends award presentations and board meetings when she can.

After Patrick’s death, the family decided to establish the DAISY Foundation — DAISY is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System — to remember their son and to honor extraordinary nurses.

“We wanted to bring the stories of what nurses do every day to the forefront. We call them unsung heroes,” Barnes said.

The first DAISY award was given in 2001 in Seattle. Since then, more than 1,000 hospitals and health care facilities in seven countries have adopted the DAISY award program, and more than 8,000 nurses have been recognized.

In May, Lawrence Memorial Hospital will recognize its first DAISY award recipient during National Nurses Week. It decided to partner with the foundation to recognize its outstanding nurses.

“The award kind of brings back why we became nurses in the first place. It’s that connection with our patients and their families,” said Deb Rector, DAISY coordinator at LMH.

The DAISY Foundation provides the tools needed to start a DAISY award program, and then each hospital can tailor it to fit its needs. LMH plans to recognize one of its approximately 450 nurses each quarter. Nominations can be submitted by patients, visitors and colleagues, and then a committee of seven nurses will decide the winner.

As part of the international program, each DAISY recipient gets a certificate, pin, handbag and hand-carved sculpture titled “A Healer’s Touch.” They also get a banner and cinnamon rolls to share with their team.

Barnes said, “When we started the DAISY award and brainstormed the various elements of what meaningful recognition would be, we felt it was important to acknowledge that it’s not just one nurse, but it takes a team to provide great patient care. A nurse will tell you that in a minute.”

Barnes said the cinnamon rolls have special meaning. One morning, Patrick’s father, Mark Barnes, had bought a Cinnabon cinnamon roll and took it into his son’s hospital room. Patrick, who had lost his appetite and couldn’t eat much of anything, asked for a bite of the cinnamon roll and ended up eating the whole thing. That afternoon before his parents left, Patrick asked them to bring a cinnamon roll for him and enough for all of his nurses.

“He wanted to say thank you to them,” Bonnie said.

Whenever the Barnes family attends a DAISY award presentation — and they’ve attended hundreds — they tell nurses that when they smell cinnamon, whether in their kitchen or the mall, they should remember how special they are.

“Their work is so important and they have a huge impact on not only the lives of patients but everyone in their lives, and they need to remember that,” Barnes said.

Mark and Bonnie Barnes, of northern California, recently toured LMH during a one-week visit to about 25 health care facilities in the Midwest. They started in St. Louis and ended in Lawrence.

“They were so wonderful. It was so much fun to walk around and see their pride and to see what they’ve created there in a community hospital that it was indeed special,” Bonnie Barnes said of the LMH nurses. “They were just bubbling with enthusiasm … we walked away energized.”

Members of the DAISY award committee at Lawrence Memorial Hospital are, from left, Angie Waldron, Deb Rector, Fatoumata Sow, Audrey Barron, Leann Dickson, Holly Soetaert and Pam Brown. The DAISY award is part of an international program that honors extraordinary nurses. LMH will recognize its first DAISY award winner in May.

NOMINATE A NURSE

Lawrence Memorial Hospital is accepting nominations for the DAISY award, an honor for extraordinary nurses. Among the criteria:

• establishing a special connection with patients and their families through trust and emotional support.

• having a positive attitude and demonstrating professionalism at work.

• collaborating with the health care team to meet patients’ needs.

Patients, visitors, physicians and colleagues can nominate a nurse by picking up a form at the hospital, 325 Maine. The forms can be dropped off at the hospital or mailed to: LMH, Attn: DAISY coordinator, Admin. Office, 325 Maine St., Lawrence, KS 66044.

LMH will recognize a nurse each quarter, and the first one will be honored during National Nurses Week, which is May 6-12.

The winners will be determined by the nurses serving on the DAISY award committee: Angie Waldron, Audry Barron, Pam Brown, Leann Dickson, Holly Soetaert, Deb Rector and Fatoumata Sow.

Nurses who are recognized with the DAISY award get a hand-carved sculpture entitled "A Healer's Touch," along with a pin, tote bag and other goodies. by Karrey Britt