Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital’s Department of Nursing recently honored 6 South nurse Paula Hertello, RN, with a DAISY Award.
Hertello was nominated by a grateful family member whose mother had recently passed. “Paula was a huge help when my mother was a patient here. My mother was very ill, and myself and my family didn’t realize the severity of her illness,” her nominator wrote. “We thought my mother was going be fine. She'd had many health problems in the past that she had bounced back from. Paula stopped me one night and said my mother would not be getting better and to think about how we wanted the rest of my mom’s time to be spent. Paula was very straightforward with us and very compassionate. My mom went on the Butterfly Project and died peacefully. Paula asked to take care of my mom when she was working and it made a really big difference for us dealing with our mother’s last days. Paula had such compassion and truly cared. I would give her a dozen DAISY Awards! I have dealt with a lot of nurses taking care of my mother throughout her hospital stays, Paula was the very best. She also has the best sense of humor and was a real person to us. I can’t thank her enough. She even came to my mother’s wake.”
Hertello was presented with her DAISY Award by members of nursing leadership, members of the Nursing Professional Recognition and Advancement Committee and her supportive co-workers. “I am truly humbled by this honor, and could not be the nurse I am without amazing support of my family and my 6 South team,” she says.
At the presentation, four DAISY Award nominees were also recognized: Ellie Jaskowiak, BSN, RN, Cherry Mateo, BSN, RN, Meagan McCarthy, BSN, RN, and Jestin Jose, BSN, RN.
The DAISY Award, established by the DAISY Foundation, is named in memory of J. Patrick Barnes who died at the age of 33 from Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), an auto-immune disease. The Barnes Family was inspired by the care that Patrick received and established this unique program to recognize and thank the nurses nationwide who make a profound difference in the lives of their patients and families.
To learn more about the DAISY Foundation, visit daisyfoundation.org.
BWFH DAISY nurses consistently demonstrate excellence through their clinical expertise and extraordinarily compassionate care. They are recognized as outstanding role models in our nursing community and make a profound difference in the lives of their patients and their family members. Patients, visitors, nurses, physicians and employees may nominate a deserving nurse by picking up a nomination form in the first or third floor lobby or by completing a nomination online.
