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DAISY Award honors Oaklawn’s Lisa Hughes for top nursing service

MARSHALL – Lisa Hughes of Marshall, a registered nurse at Oaklawn Hospital, received a quarterly DAISY Award during a recent presentation honoring her exemplary service to patients at Oaklawn Hospice.

The DAISY Award is a nationwide program that celebrates and rewards extraordinary clinical skill and care given by nurses each day, and is awarded regularly by Oaklawn Hospital.

The honor was presented as Oaklawn staff members observed National Nurses Week.

“It feels very humbling,” said a surprised Hughes on being presented the award. “I’m just very happy and proud.”

Hughes was nominated for the honor by an area resident who praised Hughes’ work during a stay at Oaklawn for knee-replacement surgery.

“Lisa was first and foremost, professional! Secondly, she always, always, always, had a smile on her face (as did the rest of the staff!), and third, she helped me tremendously,” the patient wrote in a letter to Oaklawn.

“Not knowing what to expect with this knee replacement, after the surgery, she was tremendously helpful in explaining what had occurred, what to expect, what levels of pain I would and could reach, [and] how to control the pain,” the patient wrote. “And she did this each time she spoke with me with a smile on her face.”

Hughes joined Oaklawn in 1995 as a secretary in the hospital’s Development Department, and eventually was inspired to become more directly involved in the medical field.

“I used to listen to the nurses and I loved that they had so much passion for what they were doing,” Hughes recalled. “I thought, ‘Gee, I would like to do that someday.’

“And I got that opportunity” as well as the encouragement of nursing managers, she said. “Oaklawn paid for my schooling and helped me get my bachelor’s degree.” She became an Oaklawn nurse in 2006.

Hughes and her husband Scott have two children, Tyler and Justin.

As a DAISY Award Hospital Partner, Oaklawn Hospital recognizes one of its nurses with the special honor every quarter. Recipients are given public recognition in his or her unit, along with a certificate, an award pin and a hand-carved stone sculpture entitled “A Healer’s Touch.”

DAISY is an acronym for “diseases attacking the immune system.” The DAISY Foundation was established in 2000 by the family of J. Patrick Barnes, who died of complications of the autoimmune disease Idiopathic Thrombocytopenia Purpura at age 33.

Patients, visitors, nurses, physicians and employees are encouraged to nominate a deserving employee. A DAISY Award nomination form may be obtained from the hospital, or online by visiting the “News and Events” area at the hospital’s website, www.oaklawnhospital.org.

Each year, May 6-12 is designated as National Nurses Week. The timing recognizes the anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale, founder of the modern nursing movement.