Dallas County Hospital is excited to announce their annual DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nursing. Registered Nurse Deb Heenan received the honor May 7 during a Nurses Week recognition event.
The DAISY Award is part of the national DAISY Foundation’s program to recognize the superhuman efforts nurses perform every day.
Heenan has been a dedicated, compassionate surgical nurse on the DCH Surgical Team for more than 20 years. Each day she comes to work, and her main goal is to provide high-quality, safe care to our surgical patients.
She was nominated by many for her compassion and the professionalism she brings to her team. Heenan is known for going above and beyond for her patients and is continuously looking for ways to improve the care received at DCH.
“Deb is a team player and is willing to educate others,” said Margo Starr, Dallas County Hospital surgery manager. “She has many times said to our new surgical nurses during orientation, ‘Look at each and every one of these patients as a family member, and care for them as you would your own family.’”
Starr said Heenan makes her “most significant contribution to the hospital’s organizational values” by means of “her attention to detail in the day-to-day tasks, which shows dedication to DCH by always finding ways to improve processes, improve patient visits, and support all staff in all departments.”
Physicians, employees, patients and families were all able to nominate a nurse for the DAISY Award. Heenan will also be honored in June during a Mercy Network Luncheon.
The not-for-profit DAISY Foundation is based in Glen Ellen, Calif., and was established by family members in memory of J. Patrick Barnes, who died at the age of 33 in late 1999 from complications of Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), a little known but not uncommon auto-immune disease.
The care Patrick and his family received from nurses while he was ill inspired this unique means of thanking nurses for making a profound difference in the lives of their patients and their families.
