Damar Carrillo, a registered nurse in the surgery department of the Dallas County Hospital, was presented Friday with the annual DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nursing. The award is part of the national DAISY Foundation’s program to recognize the superhuman efforts that nurses perform every day.
In presenting the award to Carrillo, DCH Chief Clinical Officer Cindy Peeler said, “Damar comes to work with a smile every day and is willing to help wherever she is needed. She has been a great support to our Spanish-speaking community, interpreting information and being a liaison to ensure the best care possible.”
Carrillo has been with the DCH team since 2021. She grew up in Perry and has a nearly lifelong relationship with DCH that started when she was a patient in infancy. As a student in the Perry school system, Carrillo felt a growing longing to help people, so she enrolled in a CNA class taught by Sally Swenson at DCH, and she completed her clinicals at DCH during her senior year at PHS.
Carrillo was later awarded a DCH Foundation scholarship to pursue an associate of nursing degree at Mercy College. She has worked at hospitals in downtown Des Moines and West Des Moines on the Med-Surg floor, and she went on to obtain her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Western Governor’s University in 2019.
“Her passion for nursing is demonstrated in everything she does,” Peeler said. “Damar is an asset to our community. Congratulations, Damar! We are all so fortunate to have you at DCH!”
Physicians, employees, patients and families were all able to nominate a nurse for the annual DAISY Award. The not-for-profit DAISY Foundation is based in Glen Ellen, Calif., and was established by family members in memory of J. Patrick Barnes. Patrick 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.
