HCA Healthcare/HealthONE’s Swedish Medical Center Honors Nurses with DAISY Awards
Jean Gasteratos, Jessalynn Fiest, Wanda Zwiegelaar recognized for providing extraordinary nursing care.
Englewood, CO, March 16, 2019 --(PR.com)-- Nurses at HCA Healthcare/HealthONE’s Swedish Medical Center are being honored with the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses. The award is part of the DAISY Foundation’s program to recognize the compassionate efforts nurses perform every day. Swedish Medical Center nurses Jean Gasteratos, RN, Jessalynn Fiest, RN, and Wanda Zwiegelaar, RN have all been recognized for this prestigious award.
Jean Gasteratos, RN, a dedicated nurse in the neuro critical care unit at Swedish was nominated by the family member of a patient. “Jean’s nursing care was superb. But much more that that she cared for my sister as if she were someone in her own family. She considered her dignity and modesty. Each time she worked with her Jean talked to my sister and explained what she was doing. She answered all of my questions and explained what she was doing and why.”
Wanda Zwiegelaar, RN, a dedicated nurse in the pediatric intensive care unit at Swedish was nominated by the mother of a young patient. “Wanda would come in and try to spread sunshine. My daughter and I were there for 4 days and 3 nights. She made sure and called the therapy dogs and got them to come to our room because my daughter was very bored. She also found a nail polish kit and told my daughter that she was going to have a spa day. She made us feel very welcome and attended to. She also hugged me as I started to cry when we heard that my daughter didn’t have any seizures on our last day. It was very nice to have that support from her in such an emotional time.”
Jessalyn Feist, RN, a dedicated nurse in the burn critical care unit at Swedish received a heartfelt nomination from a colleague for her compassionate creativity. “As ICU nurses we are constantly thinking about all the tasks and interventions that need to be done to save our patients’ lives. Meanwhile, we can easily miss what may actually feel more pressing and important to the patients; i.e. washing their hair, brushing their teeth, or just getting cleaned up. Jessie is not only an excellent and intelligent critical care nurse but she does a wonderful job making her patients look/feel their best. For months Jessie insisted that our director add hair washing basins to the list of supplies in the stock room. She now uses these to shampoo/condition long hair and then braids it to the patients’ liking (while finding their favorite Pandora station to play in the background). Jessie even took it upon herself to go out and buy a set of electric hair clippers so she could use her creativity to provide “barber style” haircuts to the patients on the burn unit.”
“To be recognized with the DAISY award is truly incredible,” said Ryan Thornton, chief nursing officer at Swedish Medical Center. “Each of these nurses demonstrates compassionate care every day and I am so proud to celebrate their hard work.”
Nurses may be nominated by patients, families, and colleagues, and they are chosen by a committee of nurses at Swedish Medical Center to receive The DAISY Award. Awards are given quarterly at presentations in front of the nurse’s colleagues, physicians, patients, and visitors. Each Honoree receives a certificate commending her or him for being an "Extraordinary Nurse." The certificate reads: "In deep appreciation of all you do, who you are, and the incredibly meaningful difference you make in the lives of so many people." The honoree will also be given a beautiful and meaningful sculpture called A Healer’s Touch, hand-carved by artists of the Shona Tribe in Africa.
Additionally, DAISY offers J. Patrick Barnes Grants for Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice Projects, The DAISY Faculty Award to honor inspiring faculty members in schools and colleges of nursing, and The DAISY in Training Award for nursing students. More information is available at http://DAISYfoundation.org.
About Swedish
Swedish Medical Center, part of HCA Healthcares’s HealthONE, is located in the south metro Denver area where it has been a proud member of the community for more than 110 years. An acute care hospital with 408 licensed beds, annually Swedish cares for more than 200,000 patients with a team of approximately 2,000 dedicated employees, 300 volunteers and 1,400 physicians.
With stroke door to treatment times averaging just 20 minutes, Swedish serves as the Rocky Mountain Region’s referral center for the most advanced stroke treatment, and was the state’s first Joint Commission certified Comprehensive Stroke Center. Swedish also serves as the region’s neurotrauma and orthopedic trauma provider and is the south Denver metro area’s only level I trauma facility with a dedicated burn and reconstructive center. Over 150 facilities regularly transfer highly complex cases to Swedish.
Swedish Medical Center offers patients the highest quality care and the most advanced technologies and treatments in nearly every medical specialty including adult and pediatric emergency, heart care, neurology/neurosurgery, pregnancy and childbirth, orthopedics and joint replacement, cancer care, gastroenterology and liver care, gynecology and urology. Additional information about the hospital is available at www.SwedishHospital.com.
About The DAISY Foundation
The DAISY Foundation was created in 1999 by the family of J. Patrick Barnes who died at age 33 of complications of an auto-immune disease (hence the name, an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System.) Patrick received extraordinary care from his nurses, and his family felt compelled to express their profound gratitude for the compassion and skill nurses bring to patients and families every day. The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses celebrates nurses in over 2,600 healthcare facilities around the world. For more information about The DAISY Award and the Foundation’s other recognition of nurses, faculty and students, visit www.DAISYfoundation.org.
Jean Gasteratos, RN, a dedicated nurse in the neuro critical care unit at Swedish was nominated by the family member of a patient. “Jean’s nursing care was superb. But much more that that she cared for my sister as if she were someone in her own family. She considered her dignity and modesty. Each time she worked with her Jean talked to my sister and explained what she was doing. She answered all of my questions and explained what she was doing and why.”
Wanda Zwiegelaar, RN, a dedicated nurse in the pediatric intensive care unit at Swedish was nominated by the mother of a young patient. “Wanda would come in and try to spread sunshine. My daughter and I were there for 4 days and 3 nights. She made sure and called the therapy dogs and got them to come to our room because my daughter was very bored. She also found a nail polish kit and told my daughter that she was going to have a spa day. She made us feel very welcome and attended to. She also hugged me as I started to cry when we heard that my daughter didn’t have any seizures on our last day. It was very nice to have that support from her in such an emotional time.”
Jessalyn Feist, RN, a dedicated nurse in the burn critical care unit at Swedish received a heartfelt nomination from a colleague for her compassionate creativity. “As ICU nurses we are constantly thinking about all the tasks and interventions that need to be done to save our patients’ lives. Meanwhile, we can easily miss what may actually feel more pressing and important to the patients; i.e. washing their hair, brushing their teeth, or just getting cleaned up. Jessie is not only an excellent and intelligent critical care nurse but she does a wonderful job making her patients look/feel their best. For months Jessie insisted that our director add hair washing basins to the list of supplies in the stock room. She now uses these to shampoo/condition long hair and then braids it to the patients’ liking (while finding their favorite Pandora station to play in the background). Jessie even took it upon herself to go out and buy a set of electric hair clippers so she could use her creativity to provide “barber style” haircuts to the patients on the burn unit.”
“To be recognized with the DAISY award is truly incredible,” said Ryan Thornton, chief nursing officer at Swedish Medical Center. “Each of these nurses demonstrates compassionate care every day and I am so proud to celebrate their hard work.”
Nurses may be nominated by patients, families, and colleagues, and they are chosen by a committee of nurses at Swedish Medical Center to receive The DAISY Award. Awards are given quarterly at presentations in front of the nurse’s colleagues, physicians, patients, and visitors. Each Honoree receives a certificate commending her or him for being an "Extraordinary Nurse." The certificate reads: "In deep appreciation of all you do, who you are, and the incredibly meaningful difference you make in the lives of so many people." The honoree will also be given a beautiful and meaningful sculpture called A Healer’s Touch, hand-carved by artists of the Shona Tribe in Africa.
Additionally, DAISY offers J. Patrick Barnes Grants for Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice Projects, The DAISY Faculty Award to honor inspiring faculty members in schools and colleges of nursing, and The DAISY in Training Award for nursing students. More information is available at http://DAISYfoundation.org.
About Swedish
Swedish Medical Center, part of HCA Healthcares’s HealthONE, is located in the south metro Denver area where it has been a proud member of the community for more than 110 years. An acute care hospital with 408 licensed beds, annually Swedish cares for more than 200,000 patients with a team of approximately 2,000 dedicated employees, 300 volunteers and 1,400 physicians.
With stroke door to treatment times averaging just 20 minutes, Swedish serves as the Rocky Mountain Region’s referral center for the most advanced stroke treatment, and was the state’s first Joint Commission certified Comprehensive Stroke Center. Swedish also serves as the region’s neurotrauma and orthopedic trauma provider and is the south Denver metro area’s only level I trauma facility with a dedicated burn and reconstructive center. Over 150 facilities regularly transfer highly complex cases to Swedish.
Swedish Medical Center offers patients the highest quality care and the most advanced technologies and treatments in nearly every medical specialty including adult and pediatric emergency, heart care, neurology/neurosurgery, pregnancy and childbirth, orthopedics and joint replacement, cancer care, gastroenterology and liver care, gynecology and urology. Additional information about the hospital is available at www.SwedishHospital.com.
About The DAISY Foundation
The DAISY Foundation was created in 1999 by the family of J. Patrick Barnes who died at age 33 of complications of an auto-immune disease (hence the name, an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System.) Patrick received extraordinary care from his nurses, and his family felt compelled to express their profound gratitude for the compassion and skill nurses bring to patients and families every day. The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses celebrates nurses in over 2,600 healthcare facilities around the world. For more information about The DAISY Award and the Foundation’s other recognition of nurses, faculty and students, visit www.DAISYfoundation.org.
Contact
Swedish Medical Center
Kara Hamersky
(303) 817-5708
www.swedishhospital.com
Kara Hamersky
(303) 817-5708
www.swedishhospital.com
Contact
Categories