BWFH nurses receive DAISY Award for their work on 6 South

Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital’s Department of Nursing recently honored 6 South’s Gina Marinelli, BSN, RN, and the Float Pool’s Emily Flynn, BSN, RN, with a DAISY Award.

The pair were nominated by 6 South nurse Karen Jewett. In her nomination letter, she wrote:

Both of these nurses have been going above and beyond for one of our patients. The patient has been on 6 South for nearly a year. She has encountered many physical and emotional challenges along with complicated discharge planning needs, her care plan is one obstacle after another. Although she has one son, she is basically alone. She is everyone's patient, as we all know her and take care of her. Gina and Emily have adapted her as family. Gina buys her favorite foods and brings them in. She finds and plays her favorite music on the iPad. She makes pictures and signs and hangs them all over her room. She reads the bible to her and takes her downstairs to the meditation room. She makes sure Spiritual Care Services comes up to see her. Gina is an angel. It is amazing to me to see how one person's actions can really affect another's life. Emily, who is in the Float Pool, makes time to see her whenever she is working. She too will bring things in for her, take her to the chapel and the gift shop and take her for a ride in the wheelchair. She will get her special things to eat. She will sing to her and read to her. One day when I was working, Emily was working on another floor that day and was done at 3:30 pm, she then came and sat with our patient for two hours, spending time with her. Recently it was her birthday, Gina brought in cards for everyone to sign, a big cake and brought her lunch. Emily was FaceTiming her as well. Both treat her like a queen and make her feel so important. Most of all, they both make her feel so loved and they tell her every time they are here. They show her love and respect, without these two, she would be alone and scared. When you witness this kind of care all the time, it makes other staff step up a bit as well. I know I feel proud to work on 6 South because of the true caring and humanitarianism, this is who they are.

Marinelli and Flynn were presented with their DAISY Awards by members of nursing leadership, the Nursing Professional Recognition and Advancement Committee and their supportive co-workers. 

Marinelli says it’s an honor to be a DAISY Award recipient. “Treating my patients like family and remembering how I would want to be treated is something I try to do on a daily basis for all of my patients,” she says. “It’s an honor to be recognized by an incredible coworker and mentor for the care I provide at Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital.”

Flynn agrees, saying, “It’s an honor and a privilege to work with people whose priority is helping others. This award is really a testament to what I have learned from them.”

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, click here.

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 completing a nomination online.