Holy Name Press Releases

Daisy Award Founders Visit Holy Name Medical Center

Recognition of Extraordinary Nurses Continues for Nearly 2 Decades

June 13, 2016

Since 1999, nurses nationwide who combine exceptional kindness and compassion with expertise are recognized with a Daisy Award, a widely-recognized tribute started by the family of J. Patrick Barnes in California. Recently, Patrick's parents – Mark and Bonnie Barnes – visited Holy Name Medical Center to help award this quarter's recipients at the Medical Center and talk about the vital role of nursing in today's health care system.

When Patrick was hospitalized with Idiopathic Thrombocytopenia, an auto-immune disease, his parents experienced the "height of emotions – the worst and best of times. We wanted to tell the story of how you impacted us – nurses touch their patients and families so profoundly," Bonnie Barnes told a conference hall full of Holy Name nurses, supervisors and administrators.

"You make the world a better place," Mark Barnes said.

To date, Daisy Awards have been given to 65,000 nurses among 2,200 participating health care providers across the country. Each facility awards a varying number of nurses at different intervals during the year. Every recipient receives a certificate proclaiming "Extraordinary Nurse," a Daisy Award pin, a hand-carved serpentine stone sculpture, and several boxes of cinnamon rolls, based on Patrick's request that his father bring him some when he otherwise lacked an appetite.

At Holy Name, three nurses are recognized every quarter. During the most recent ceremony, Joseph Scarano, described by a patient as a "guardian angel," Theresa Koprowski, "who truly connected with her patients," and Caryn Bart, who made the mother of a newborn "very relaxed and calm," were given the sculpture and other gifts.

"These nurses and all those who have received Daisy Awards have an extra special touch that signifies a nursing vocation is not just a job but a calling," said Sheryl Slonim, DNP, RN-BC, NEA-BC, APN-C, Executive Vice President, Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer at Holy Name. "Most nurses who get this reward are surprised, very often saying they are just doing their job. This speaks to the dedication and compassion they bring to work every day."