Minonk woman most recent recipient

OSF Saint Francis Medical Center is pleased to announce the most recent winner of the DAISY Award, which recognizes outstanding nursing care. Winners are nominated by patients and their families.

The April DAISY Award was presented to Candace Jackson from the Neuro Critical Care unit. Jackson, from Minonk, was nominated by the family of a patient who, sadly, passed away. His wife and daughters were present for the award ceremony and there was not a dry eye in the unit when the nomination was read.

Jackson’s nomination reads: Candace showed an act of compassion above the usual compassion all good nurses show. Without even realizing it, she was gently brushing my dad’s hair back while talking to us about discontinuing the ventilator. She was truly and heartily in-touch with our dad and us, yet maintained professionalism at the same time. We wanted to take her with us when they moved dad to another room. We’ll never forget her and (how) she eased so much of our pain.

OSF Saint Francis Medical Center is the first hospital in the Midwest to participate in the DAISY Award, a national endeavor. The hospital receives approximately 180 DAISY nominations each month. From those nominations, a panel of five judges from the Professional Nursing Congress Recognition/Communication Committee at OSF Saint Francis chooses a monthly winner. Nurses who win a DAISY Award receive an award pin as well as a hand-carved Shona sculpture from Zimbabwe, an award certificate, a bouquet of daisies, cinnamon powder called “DAISY dust”, a package of tissues, and cinnamon rolls for their entire unit.