Chamberlain University kicks off its first podcast episode in celebration of the 2020 Year of the Nurse with a spotlight on the DAISY Foundation. Lynn Patton, a dean of academic affairs at Chamberlain and a two-time DAISY award winner, sits down with Bonnie Barnes, the cofounder and CEO of the DAISY Foundation and Cynthia Sweeney, vice president of nursing, to discuss the nonprofit organization that honors nurses for the care and support they show patients and families every day. Lynn and Bonnie share a heartfelt discussion about the beginnings of the DAISY Foundation, how it’s keeping Patrick’s spirit alive and what it means to nursing professionals today.
Chamberlain University kicks off its first podcast episode in celebration of the 2020 Year of the Nurse with a spotlight on the DAISY Foundation. Lynn Patton, a dean of academic affairs at Chamberlain and a two-time DAISY award winner, sits down with Bonnie Barnes, the cofounder and CEO of the DAISY Foundation and Cynthia Sweeney, vice president of nursing, to discuss the nonprofit organization that honors nurses for the care and support they show patients and families every day. Lynn and Bonnie share a heartfelt discussion about the beginnings of the DAISY Foundation, how it’s keeping Patrick’s spirit alive and what it means to nursing professionals today.
Bonnie Barnes: 0:00
This is Chamberlain. University's, Nurse to Nurse: conversations between nurses about nursing. And what better way to kick off the year of the nurse than to hear from the people who have made it their mission to celebrate nurses The DAISY Foundation Today, Chamberlain faculty member and two time DAISY Award winner Lynne Patton talks with DAISY founder Bonnie Barnes and DAISY Vice President Cynthia Sweeney to hear about how the foundation got started and what it means to the nursing profession today. Here's Lynne.
Lynn Patton: 0:35
Well, this is Lynn and, uh, Bonnie. I just want to say, First of all, thank you, Thank you for your gift to nursing. And if I could, I just want to share a little bit of what this meant to me how this came about. My nursing background is certainly not one that was prepped to receive awards of any kind of Bonnie. I've been a nurse over 45 years, and my career is taken me on journeys I never could have dreamed of in the beginning. Um, and I actually knew nothing about the Daisy Award Foundation until I came to Chamberlain, and I was blessed to be able to to do clinical rotations with our pre license your students And, you know, when they're in their first few days being out there on those units interacting with patients, real patients, uh, it's a scary time for them. And so to ease their minds, I would have them look at bulletin boards and, uh, become comfortable with the working environment. And it seemed that everywhere we went there was something about this thing called the Daisy Award. And so it kind of picked my interest as well as What is this? And so this is what I knew about it. It was, ah, away for nurses to potentially nominate and lift up other nurses for the hard work that we all do every single day, Uh, expecting nothing more than just to get to do it again the next day. So I didn't even know money that that applied to the education world. And so I would I would share, you know, this is what I know about Daisy with my clinical students. But the day I was given this award, was ah, complete shock. I I had no idea how I was nominated. I didn't know what was said, and I like to talk a lot and I had money. I had no words to say. And then they read the story about your beautiful son, a little choked up over this. You're beautiful sign and the journey that he went through and what your family went through, What what his spouse and child have endured. You're absolutely touched, my heart, that out of your pain you were. You all were able to recognize there's little tiny things that we do every day. And to think that uneducated er who's not necessarily at the bedside doing those things could be recognized as well. Well, well, that left me speechless. I'm being I'm being honest. I didn't know what else to say at that moment other than thank you. It was very humbling. But money was also very inspiring to me. That's something that I grew up with as a young nurse, having been taught my instructors how important a connection between the patient, a nurse, the family, how important those things were, it just became who I was and this opportunity to be recognized for. That just confirmed for me that we are on the right track teaching our students this that when all else fails, when we don't have any other answers, we are to be present with our patients, that we are building a relationship based off of respect and integrity. To me, that equals caring that equals trust. Trust is what helps heal. And so again I have. I have thought about what I would get to say if I ever had the opportunity to speak with all of you, but that ability to recognize that and to humbly except it is, well, it still leaves me fairly speechless. And for a girl who likes to talk, that's a hard thing to do.
Lynn Patton: 4:51
So I want to say thank you,
Bonnie Barnes: 4:53
Thank you. I have to say, I am so happy we're recording this because on I'm sure my colleagues, Cindy Sweeney, will concur. We have got to capture what you've just said, and, um, first of all, share it with our team who works so hard it daisy to ensure that nurses and nursing educators are being honored as they are, but also with with others who who have not yet understood exactly why. It's important to honor nursing educators and faculty, which I can't wait to tell you how we got to doing that. Because it was a revelation to us that made us decide that we wanted to add nursing faculty to our daisy Award program. But thank you, Len. You've You've touched me beyond words with your words,
Lynn Patton: 5:43
Mani. Thank you so much. I if I could. And if I have time, I want to share just a little example about, uh, the compassion that young nurses need They need to experience. They need to understand. And this happened at a clinical just a few days ago. We were waiting to to start our day. We were in a lobby oven acute care facility, and, uh, woman, completely unbeknownst to us, walked in and she was hurt. It was obvious that she needed some care, and I I just approached her as my students came with me. And we did what we could do to help ease her pain, help help her feel just a little more supported until the actual hospital team came to take over. And she was so gracious star so attached to us. And we never knew our anybody's name. Nobody knew anybody's name. We just did What Nurses? D'oh! The following week, we were in the same lobby. We were waiting, but to start our day and that same individual came in again, and this time she wanted to connect and much with each one of my students. And so there were hugs galore and we felt like, Well, we've made a difference. So I capitalized on that just a little bit. We spent some time talking about that that need to connect just honestly and openly with our patients. The last week of our rotation, she came again, this time bearing gifts. It was right before Valentine's Day, and she had bought boxes of chocolates for those students, and so that that compassion that what you felt, what I hope your family felt what you continue to feel from nurses is it's those little things that matter and they build. They build that compassion bank inside of each and every one of us, and and there's an educator. I couldn't have asked for a better case study a scenario for that to happen. Uh, so these don't use thes young nurses that I'm working with now these young students, they're going to be those kinds of nurses you had that you experienced your family experienced and being able to lift them up is going to be are such a blessing to them as they carry this compassion through their careers and toe onto others.
Lynn Patton: 8:20
It's a beautiful story, Lynn. Thank you so much for sharing it. And I can just envision what that patient was feeling when she connected with all of you and can completely understand why you are so vitally important to her at that moment.
Lynn Patton: 8:37
Well, thank you. I would love Bonnie to hear more about your side of this. How did the story start? How did I've read what I've read, but I'm honored to hear what you're saying.
Bonnie Barnes: 8:48
Well, picture this. What do you do when your 33 year old son or, in my case, stepson, he Patrick was my husband? Mark's son. What do you do when he wakes up? One morning? Um, having just given birth to our first grandchild six weeks before this particular morning with some peculiar symptoms, he had some blood blisters in his mouth, was admitted to the hospital with a diagnosis of idiopathic from beside a peanut purpura. I t p, which meant he had virtually no platelets, and, you know, it was a new experience for us. We'd never heard of this condition, but we had this brand new grand baby. So Mark and I flew to Texas where they lived and thought we'd be there for a few days when you'd be in the hospital and we get to hang out with the baby and all that. Everything would be fine. But those few days that we expected Pat would be in the hospital turned into the worst eight weeks of our lives. He became increasingly ill. About four weeks into his hospitalization in Texas. His hematologist determined that the only thing she could think of to reverse the antibodies that his his body was producing against his platelets would perhaps be a bone marrow transplant. And he was accepted to have one at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. So Patrick and I flew on an ambulance plane to Seattle in hopes of him receiving this BMT and him. Getting back to his life is a brand new dad and loving husband and, of course, terrific son. But four weeks later, without ever having gotten to that transplant, he passed away on Dhe. I am sure that all of the nurses who are listening to this have been around families like ours. You go through this emotional roller coaster eight really dedicated, focused weeks of, um, day in and night out with Patrick in the hospital, and suddenly it was over. So now what do we do? And so we took Tina and the Baby Riley back to Texas and started talking right away about what we could do to keep Patrick's wonderful spirit alive. He was a great guy, filled with gratitude and joy than a Hodgkin's disease survivor, twice So he had a really connection to people and knew how to take care of himself any really. He was so special we had to find some way to not let the pain of his loss linger with us, but to keep ourselves focused on his spirit. And as we talked one night over what I often refer to is a very liquid dinner. We kept coming back to the care of Patrick's nurses. They were just wonderful. I mean, we expected they'd be great from a clinical standpoint that they know how to handle all this technology. That was involved in his care, and they'd be good at assessing his condition and doing all the technical stuff they needed to do. We knew that that would happen. That's why he was in two great hospitals. But the part we didn't expect was how he how all of his nurses delivered that care to Patrick even when he was totally sedated and we didn't know what he could experience. And not only were they incredibly compassionate and sensitive to him, but they were just that way to all of us in our family. So at a time, then we that we were, you know, terrified of what was going on and terribly emotional and exhausted because we were spending all of our time at the hospital. I mean, through all of that, these nurses really got us, and they held us in a way that was well, it will never forget them. So when he died, it was really simple for us. Lynn. We wanted to say thank you because we were under the impression that those nurses who took care of Patrick and us, we're not unique. This is who nurses are, and we needed to say thank you It was a simple is that so? That that liquid dinner with Tina, his wife and baby Riley's swinging at the end of the table at the Outback Steak Counts in Amarillo, Texas. We started talking about what we were gonna do and how we were gonna elevate the stories of what nurses do every day and and share those stories and created Daisy, which stands for diseases attacking the immune system. And that keeps us rooted in our experience with Pat, but also has the beautiful imagery of the daisy flower and the joy that it brings to us as a family. We love them and and just on created the Daisy Award as a way of providing ongoing recognition. We actually knew that there was a thing called Nurses Week. We figured that's not nearly enough for the world to say thank you to nurses. We needed to to say thank you throughout the year, so we wanted a program that would be ongoing recognition. It didn't occur to us at the time that there was no such thing as this kind of recognition in the nursing profession. Mark and Tina and I all had worked, and Patrick had all worked in advertising before this. Where there are awards for everything, you show up at work. It's like kindergarten. You know, you almost get an award for attendance or the most, you know, expensive commercial of the year goes to and everybody applause. But that wasn't the case in nursing. There were certainly were academic awards and all kinds of scholastic things, but not for the kind of care nurses become nurses to provide every day. And that's what we wanted to honor. And that's what we took as a concept to the hospital that took care of Patrick in Seattle, announce them to pilot with us, and I really think they felt kind of sorry for us as a grieving family. And so they agreed to do it. Who would have thought that it would have the impact it's had?
Lynn Patton: 14:33
That's amazing. That's amazing. I I wish that I could tell you Bonnie the number of daisies that I see pinned to name badges that I see on the bottom of an email signature as a Daisy Award recipient. Nurses are proud. They're proud to have received this recognition, and it's it's a humbling kind of feeling to be able to to know that someone thought that of you and then to hear your story. You know, I've read the story, but to hear you say the story, compassion that's coming from all of you That connection, that really is thean inspiration for nurses. Two to want to share that recognition, to be able to say yes, I am a a Daisy Award recipient and this is what it means. The story's the story's being told.
Bonnie Barnes: 15:30
Linda have to tell you something interesting when we first started this program. If our very first hospital is the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle, and we thought that nurses would be the people writing nominations and sharing stories of what other nurses were doing because who would know nurses work better than their colleagues. So after we launched the program and we gave the first Daisy Award to ah, a nurse who had taken care of Patrick and left the program with all of our materials that we had so lovingly created in the hands of the University of Washington Medical Center, nurses uh came back home and kind of get back to doing what we were doing and couldn't wait to hear how it was going. And I called him about three weeks later and said, How's it going? And they said, Well, lovely, but we don't have any nominations. Well, so nurses it turned out, after lots of conversation, did not see in each other that they were doing anything special. They didn't see the value of those little things that make such a difference when you're on the receiving end of those little moments of compassion and they thought, Well, I do this every day. Of course, my colleagues do this every day, So they were not writing nominations and they didn't have a whole lot of time to think about it. I guess so. They just there weren't any nominations. So a month or so later, when we still didn't have any, I asked the hospital if they would please open it up to patients and families, and that's when the floodgates opened. You have patients and families the opportunity to say thank you and they will, and testimony to that fact when you talk about those little daisy nominee pins and we honor everyone who's nominated when someone takes the time to write their thank you and story to a nurse. We know that more than 1.6 million of those nominations have been submitted by patients and families and co workers, so clearly more than 1.6 million times someone's taken the time to do this. We are not the only folks who need to say thank you to nurses.
spk_0: 17:31
That's incredible. Bonnie, I I didn't know, and I to this moment I still don't know for sure as an educator how I was nominated or necessarily what was said I. But I can tell you it was a show stopping moment for me.
Lynn Patton: 17:48
Well, let me let me tell you how we got to the point of of including faculty and then students in the Daisy Award because I love this story. We had, um, a nurse leader who joined our board many years ago, who was running the daisy, awarded a major health system in Cincinnati at the time, and she then became the dean of nursing at a nursing college in Cincinnati. We were sitting at a board meeting, and she looked across the table at us and, by the way, picture the board meeting takes place in our dining room here in our home. We all work out of our houses. So, um, the board meets here in our home in cinema of California. Anyway, That's looked across the table at May and Mark and she said, You know, somebody had to teach those nurses who took care of Patrick. It was like a lightning bolt went off to us. We had never thought about it. We just kind of thought, This is who nurses are. We hadn't thought about how they got there and we started talking. And most of the rest of our board consists of nursing nursing leaders. And while Beth was the only dean, of course, every nurse executive on our board knew a lot about nursing education and nursing students, and they started educating us what was going on in the schools of nursing around our country, on the role of faculty on the pressure's on faculty on the influence of faculty. And we then said, Okay, we're gonna we're gonna think through how to do this, right? And its mark and I traveled visiting our hospital partners. I would talk to various of the administrators nurses who about this very concept and and they said, You know, I've been a nurse for 37 years. There is always this voice in my ear, Not necessarily my favorite nurse educator, my favorite professor or instructor, but someone who has made a difference in my practice and I always have that voice in my ear. And that was the thing that put us over the edge to say We have got to do the Daisy Award for nursing faculty of it. It was just It was so obvious at that point after listening to what he had, the way that nurses talk about the people who have influenced their practice when they're in this in schools of nursing. So that was why we decided we needed to honor faculty and then thinking about your beautiful story about the students who were exposed to this patient's gratitude. Some years back, um, sitting at my computer, which is where I spend most of my life. Now, when I'm not out visiting with nurses, I got an email from a group of nursing students in Iowa, and they were very familiar with the Daisy Award through the hospital that there were their school is connected to university, and they wrote a power point to us. That was a very thoughtful presentation on why nursing students should also be included in the Daisy Award program with the understanding that they came into nursing to take care of people. But during the time of their education, they were focusing on so many things that were tests and technology and strategic thinking and all kinds of things that were very pro high pressure And, of course, the life and death of nerve. What nursing is all about. They just wanted to be reminded of why they became what we were working so hard to become nurses. So they created for us a program to honor nursing students called the Daisy Award for nursing Students. Actually, they called it The Daisy and Training Award. We ultimately what students under our overall Daisy Award banner, but it was another epiphany. And, boy, are we glad they took the time to to send this really thoughtful, descriptive concept for a way that nursing students could be honored with Daisy as well.
spk_0: 21:40
That is just amazing. How the how it keeps growing, how it's moving, including even these students. We've had some of our students receive that and and I see it on their face. Uh, it's that little moment that for all the hard work for all the long hours somebody saw it. Somebody recognized that this is coming from the depths of who they are. I chuckled just a little bit when you said There is that voice of that instructor and Bonnie. I've been a nurse of very, very long time, and I still hear the voice of two very ah Harry distinct instructors in my mind, one challenging me that was I going to be good enough and the other lifting me up, telling me to believe in myself and to do it. And when I balance both of those every day, and I think that is what is the standard inside of me. So thank you so much for recognizing the educators, recognizing the students that are coming coming along through this process. You know, in today's fast paced, crazy, crazy world we live in taking those moments to pause and to actually say, Why are we doing this? And does it have a meaning? Does it make a difference? It really does.
Lynn Patton: 23:12
It really, really does and a 1,000,001 0.6 million nominations. Stories Air testimony to difference that that it's making, um, I'm so glad to hear that you are continuing to carry those voices in your ear. I tend to think every nurse does, and we're now at Daisy have evolved to the place where we want to honor nurses wherever they practice, whatever their role is in health care, wherever they are in their careers. Last year we are. Two years ago, we introduced a lifetime achievement award, which has been really wonderful to be able to celebrate those nurses who have dedicated decades of their lives to taking care of all of us. We honor nurse leaders for creating the environment where extraordinary compassion can thrive. We honor nurses who are having an influence on patient care that may not be direct. They may be in for Mattis ists. They maybe, um, you know it, working as nurse managers or directors and even chief nursing officers and, of course, educators and students. So wherever nurses practice, we want to be
spk_0: 24:19
Thank you for doing that. I have a question, and I don't know how you got connected to Chamberlain. Is that something that you could share with me.
Lynn Patton: 24:30
As with everything at the Daisy Foundation, there's a story and a person behind it all in this case, the person behind it all, in our opinion, is, is gunning Peggy Guillory. Peggy is on the staff of Chamberlain, and we have the great gift of being on display at numerous nursing conferences throughout the year. And Peggy kept walking by our display and seeing The Daisy Award and were never in the exhibit hall with the exhibitors. And the vendors were out with the nursing organization that sponsoring the conference. And so she kind of decided to take it on herself to look into what Daisy was about. And one day, um, I didn't know any of this. It never never talked to us until one day Mark and I were visiting with our daughter, Law Patrick's wife, Tina, and our granddaughter, Riley, in Atlanta, where they live, and my cell phone rang and it was Peggy Guillory and she said, I have been researching your organization, and I think we need to talk about what we can do to support your work and be a sponsor for your work, because I just think that what you do and what we do is deeply connected. Oh, I don't mean we must have talked for an hour and as of course, while I was sitting there, I grabbed my laptop and looked up. Chamberlain University and saw language that Chamberlain uses to describe the kinds of nurses that you want to graduate. Extraordinary, compassionate. Look, you're singing our song. So I have to say it was Peggy's initiative. And then she so wisely engaged all of her colleagues. I think, before she before they went to their leadership, a chamberlain. She engaged a number of her colleagues. Can Milito and others who certainly got what we do and got to know us and and I don't know you're So later, Chamberlain University became our exclusive university sponsor.
spk_0: 26:27
Wow, Interesting. Thank you again for listening to us. We do it. We do graduate extraordinary nurses, and many of them have gone on from bedside practice, too. Managerial administrative roles. Some are in education now, and we continue that extraordinary nurse expectation. And so this this gift that you're giving this is such a This is such a blessing tossed.
Lynn Patton: 26:57
Well, it's it's a blessing to us as well because we learn so much from all of you. Our partnership is really strong and more important. Frankly, it's our friendships that we've developed with the team. That Chamberlain. We had a whole group of them here in December, having a retreat with us in our dining room at the Worldwide headquarters conference room. Right, our dining room here. And, ah, you know, it was very productive for both of us and continue. He continued to learn about what meaningful recognition can do in the in the world of nursing faculty and students and certainly to continue to support each other because our work is so synergistic. I mean, let's face it, you are graduating nurses who are going to be daisy nurses in time. How perfect is that?
spk_0: 27:43
Is amazing. That that's just amazing. Bonnie is there. Ah, I've heard that there might be a book that's being published this year. Is that something that you could share?
Lynn Patton: 27:53
Oh, I'm so glad you asked. Yes, um, we have just released our book. Uh, for years, people, nurses and people have said to us My gosh, 20 years later, it's our 20th anniversary. You have now brought the Daisy Award to over 4300 healthcare facilities and schools of nursing, not only in every state in the United States but also in 26 other countries. How did all this happen? And Mark and I felt like we really needed to start writing this down. And I'll tell you, the other reason that we created this book is because, well, two reasons. One. I didn't want to lose the stories of what went into creating the Daisy Foundation and bringing it to where it is. And also we needed to share how nurses have guided and, um, thoughtfully helped us along the way in bringing Daisy to so many nurses. And, um so we really needed to tell our story. So the book is called Shining the Light on All the Right, celebrating the art of nursing around the world, and it is now available on Amazon, and it's going to be in numerous bookstores at nursing conferences this year. And, of course, it can be ordered in bulk through us, and we're really excited about it. It it tells our story, but it also tells the story of numerous nurses and what they've done with us and for us. And And it includes certain stories for of daisy honorees and quotes, that of nurses who've described what Daisy has meant to them and describes the impact. There's a wonderful chapter in there about Theo impact of the Daisy Award, which is something that never dawned on us when we created this that, you know, we knew we needed to say Thank you. We didn't know that there would be a receiving end, that nurses needed to be thanked or what it could be doing for patients and families and organizations. And we're so blessed to have on our team a vice president for nursing named Dr Cynthia Sweeney. And I would love to have her share the microphone with us so she can talk a little bit about about the impact of Daisy and her experience with it.
Bonnie Barnes: 30:04
Thank you very much, Bonnie, for that, Um, after listening to those both of your stories, all the stories that have preceded this, it really does under score the importance of this work and why we need to continue to replicate, end and anchored in the evidence. Um, the stories are anecdotal and they're wonderful and they give us some qualitative information, but I think his nurses in practice today, we need to understand the why we always have a students and into our practice is why do we do something? And so I really have been fortunate to be in this role as the voice of nursing for the Daisy Foundation to understand the impact to my profession, nursing and like you. I have been a nurse for a very long time, votes in the civilian sector and in the military. So I think I've seen a lot of perspective and have traveled around the world as well in that role of the nurse. And the one thing that comes back is culture knows no geographic or cultural boundaries. So the idea I'm sorry. Compassion knows no cultural geographic boundaries, and that's something that you know again, Daisy continues to underscore the significance of that in our practice. So when I came into the role, I was given a gift and the gift waas ah, blank piece of paper. And that was to figure out what this role was and what it should do and how it would support the nursing profession as well as Daisy. And so with that, I decided to do the Have you reviewed the literature and just see where the intersex were. And you know what was already out there in terms of the evidence and what I continually found and what you'll see is a triangle when you look at the day's the impact model. And that was something I scribbled on the back of an envelope just for my own clarity and repeatedly found that there were themes in the research that could be linked to what Daisy does. And those teams came around the healthy work environment, the impact to engaging nurses in their work, as well as the outcomes for patients. So you know the first idea Thinking about Daisy is a form of meaningful recognition. Very, very nicely supports the healthy work environment because the American Association of Critical Care Nurses, back in the nineties and invalidating it in 2005 and then again in 2016 talked about six components of a healthy work environment. Those six components may come off a lot of sense when you hear them. They're skilled communication, true collaboration, appropriate staffing, authentic leadership, effective decision making and meaningful recognition, and that's where Daisy comes in as a form of meaningful recognition. Daisy supports that healthy work environment, which drives the culture that helps to engage nurses in the work that they do and understand that they do make a difference in everyone's life. And when you have an engaged nurse, you have better patient outcome. So you have a patient experience, patient and family experiences that extraordinary. So I think the impact that we see anecdotally are being proven in the research that continues to be done. Three evidence out there that we know that Daisy makes a difference. Meaningful recognition makes the difference, and we know that in the clinical setting, but something that we have been lagging on in our literature is in the academic setting. So I'm very excited that I think returning a corner now and looking at what does it mean to our faculty, to our students in terms of recognition and recognition? When I talk about that, that it's meaningful to what is meaningful and oftentimes meaningful Tow ounces. Tell me how I made a difference in your life. And so those stories of Daisy helped articulate all of those different pieces. There's something that impacts one of those pieces which drives, you know, best practices, um, and outcomes for patients and families overall in the health care setting. So when you think about what we know in the clinical setting, we only know anecdotally right now in the academic setting. So we're turning a corner and understanding more and more what it means to our faculty into our students to be recognized with a daisy award with a form of meaningful recognition that underscores to them. You know how they make a difference in someone's life, how they contribute to the team, how they increase their own self awareness of what they do to impact others. So it's very exciting. And so we're gonna take that, you know, anecdotal evidence that we have to our daisy stories and we'll start toe anchor it in the evidence. And I think what we'll find is that it doesn't matter where nurse practice, whether it's in the academic setting, the clinical setting, you know, public health. As we talked about the numerous places that nurses could be found in industry wherever it is, it comes back to knowing that you make a difference and that recognition is really important because it articulates what you're doing is right, and it articulates best practices then that we can share with others. So he started thinking about Thea, an article that I wrote last spring dedicated to the academic setting and specifically to our faculty because I, too, hear voices in my head and some people might say That's crazy. We're all hearing these voices that these voices are very important because they mark a passage and are in development as nurses in our profession. So in that I mentioned a nurse that was particularly important to me in my very first year as a nursing students. And I hear you Arnett's voice all the time. When I want to do something, I always think about her because she'll say to me, she would have said to me What your rationale, Think about your rationale. Why are you doing what you're doing? So I had the opportunity to write a note to her when that was published and sent her a message about it, and she wrote back this beautiful letter, saying, You know, for all these years and I've been a nurse for over 40 years after all these years to know that she made a difference, like she really felt that she had contributed the profession through the voice of the students. So again, I think that there is some wonderful, wonderful things happening out there in the academic setting. I can't wait to bring it into focus in terms of the evidence and see where we might take it. Currently, Daisy is really excited because we did a call to action around recognition of faculty. And we don't have formed our own little academic advisory group that has representation from across the country in terms of bringing some greater willingness to the issues in the academic setting. And then my last piece that I think all of us as nurses, we have an opportunity to make sure that this what we say we say we d'oh so putting our you know our actions behind our words. So I really feel strongly that the Daisy Award belongs in the academic setting, and so it's an alumnus. I have sponsored it now in my own school of nursing to make sure that it is always gonna be in place and that the students understand that as an alumnus how important it is for me that they are recognized for their compassion and extraordinary care as they develop their own sense of practice.
spk_0: 36:59
Cindy, thank you for sharing all of that. I didn't know all that was happening. I think that's amazing. Chamberlain is an amazing organization and cares deeply about its students. It's team members, so to hear that that's happening, that's that's wonderful, Bonnie. What lies ahead for Daisy now for the foundation?
Lynn Patton: 37:22
Well, there's a few areas of focus for us. I will say that I think one of the reasons for Daisy success of which there are many, many reasons. But one of them is the fact that we've stayed so focused on our mission, to say thank you to nurses and to celebrate them through the Daisy Award. So when we talk about what lies ahead, it's really all about The Daisy Award, and one of the areas have focused for us now is international expansion. Never in my wildest dreams did I think we'd be talking about international expansion because, of course, we thought we'd just get to say thank you to nurses in five or 10 hospitals, and we would have done a good thing. But through numerous nursing organizations, we have been introduced to the world of international nursing, and I think our big learning there is that nurses are nurses everywhere, and we need to say thank you to them everywhere and compassionate Cares is a strong component of excellent nursing throughout the world. So we are now celebrating nurses in 26 countries, plus the U. S. And very excited about that, and will continue to work through that. Secondly, we want to continue to engage patients and families for a couple of reasons. One to help our healthcare partners understand that bringing patients and families into recognition. Of course, it's a place they want to be, but also their stories convey be so important in helping to elevate our society's view of nursing and understanding of the important role that nurses play and secondly, because it we want to continue to reinforce the importance of patient and family center care. And so making sure that patients and families are a key part of our work is is really important to us. So those are I think two of our good focus is over the next several years. But mostly we just want to continue to make sure the Daisy Award is creating four nurses who are on the receiving end, an experience they will never forget. So we worked very closely with all of the schools of nursing and health care facilities that have our program to make sure that every presentation is an extraordinary celebration.
spk_0: 39:37
Beautiful, beautiful Bonnie. Thank you. I Emma, I'm overwhelmed with the amount of work, the amount of continued dedication that you and your family your team are continuing to give to nursing. I
Lynn Patton: 39:56
think one think I just want to say Lynn, you know, Mark and I long ago stopped doing this alone while we continue to be a full time volunteers. And I mean full time we do have this fantastic staff, including Cindy, but also including 20 from out other people who share our passion for extraordinary nurses and love what they do And, uh, you know, just dedicate their careers as well as their personal lives, to helping to celebrate nurses with us. So this is a real team effort.
spk_0: 40:31
Well, it's obvious that you are Ah, fantastic team. Um, I want to share a couple of closing things with you. One. What this is really meant to me is it's allowed me to continue to remember my roots where I came from. Why, 40 plus years ago, I wanted to be a nurse. It's helping me remember that every interaction matters every interaction, uh, that I have the ability as an educator to place those values into the hearts and the minds of our future nurses and to know that they have the ability to be recognized not only as a student but as a practicing nurse in their future that we can continue. Why we're really doing this to serve, not to be served
Lynn Patton: 41:23
eso so beautifully, said Lynn. And maybe something that will be a resource of some help to you is on our website, Daisy Foundation dot or GE. There are tens and tens and tens of thousands of stories written by patients and families and co workers as Daisy nominations for nurses who've received the Daisy Award. There are the stories of faculty as well have to look up and see if yours is there, but for sure those stories air so inspiring, and they describe the what exactly? A nurse has done to has, uh, been recognized. And it helps to create awareness of the fact what you just said those little things matter. Those moments matter. So I would encourage you to invite your students to take a look at that tremendous resource if of daisy stories that are on our website under the Daisy Award tab.
spk_0: 42:18
I am promising you, Bonnie. I will make that happen. I will do that. Our students, um I can't tell you how much this time has meant to me to be able to sit and just have this conversation with you two to share toe learn. What
Bonnie Barnes: 42:37
do
spk_0: 42:37
you think Patrick would think today Of the wonderful work that you are all doing
Lynn Patton: 42:44
well, no doubt he would be so, so proud is so in keeping with who he wasa, as I mentioned earlier, Grateful, fun loving One of the joys of the Daisy Award is it's often presented as a surprise to the honorees, as you know. And I know he would just love that kind of that kind of party. Yes, I think he would. He would just be all over this and he'd be so proud. And he'd be really proud of his wife. Tina, you know? Was 28 when he died with a brand new infant. And she is a spectacular human being. Has raised a magnificent daughter who's now 20. Our granddaughter Riley. But I think he would look at his family and say, This is great. You did me proud. And we always say that we would give anything to have him back and give everything up that we ever have accomplished with daisy Toe have him back. But since that's not possible, we just have to know that we're doing what's right in his memory.
spk_0: 43:45
Well, again, again, Bonnie. Thank you. Thank you for taking time. Ah, If there was a way to give a virtual hug right now, I would give you a virtual. How
Lynn Patton: 43:54
would you feel? Really good. I feel it. Lin and I will look forward to meeting you in the not far future.
spk_0: 44:00
I certainly hope so. Thank you again. Bonnie, please enjoy your day.
Lynn Patton: 44:05
Thank you, Lin. It's been my pleasure