Brookings Health’s Extraordinary Nurses to be Honored with The DAISY Award

Brookings Health System announced today it is partnering with the DAISY Foundation to recognize the health system’s nurses and the extraordinary, compassionate care they provide patients and families every day. Starting in 2024, two Brookings Health nurses will annually be honored with The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses®. 

“Our nurses at Brookings Health System are indispensable to the high-quality, compassionate, personalized healthcare we deliver to our community,” said Chief Nursing Officer Tammy Hillestad, RN. “By celebrating our nurses with this international award, Brookings Health shows how much we value their contributions that help make us a five-star and Top 20 rural community hospital."

Any licensed or registered nurse employed by Brookings Health System who is involved with direct patient or resident care may be nominated for the The DAISY Award. Nurses may be nominated by patients, families, medical staff and fellow employees. Nominated nurses should have made a special connection with the patient and family, serve as a role model for the nurse profession, function as an integral member of the team, commit to the highest standards of clinical care and went above and beyond.

Each honoree will receive a certificate commending them as an Extraordinary Nurse. Honorees will also receive a DAISY Award pin and a sculpture called, A Healer’s Touch, hand-carved by artists of the Shona Tribe in Zimbabwe. 

The DAISY Foundation is a not-for-profit organization, established in memory of J. Patrick Barnes, by members of his family. 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. DAISY is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System. 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 patient families.

“When Patrick was critically ill, our family experienced first-hand the remarkable skill and care nurses provide patients every day and night,” said Bonnie Barnes, FAAN, Doctor of Humane Letters (h.c) and Co-Founder of The DAISY Foundation. “Yet these unsung heroes are seldom recognized for the super-human, extraordinary, compassionate work they do. The kind of work the nurses at Brookings Health System are called on to do every day epitomizes the purpose of The DAISY Award.”

Nominations for The DAISY Award are now being accepted and will be gathered year-round. Those wishing to nominate a Brookings Health System nurse may do so online at brookingshealth.org/DAISY.

About Brookings Health System

Brookings Health System, located in Brookings, South Dakota, includes a 49-bed hospital, the 79-bed The Neighborhoods at Brookview nursing home, Brookhaven Estates senior living apartments, Yorkshire Eye Clinic & Optical, and medical clinics in Arlington, White and Volga, South Dakota. It is a non-profit, city-owned facility that offers the community a full range of inpatient, outpatient, emergency and extended care services. Brookings Hospital provides local access to doctors in Brookings and offers robotic da Vinci surgery and Mako robotic-arm assisted procedures, making it one of the premier rural community hospitals in South Dakota. For more information about the services offered at Brookings Health System, please call (605) 696-9000 or visit us on the Web at brookingshealth.org.