Southeast Georgia Health System recently presented
The DAISY Award® For Extraordinary Nurses to Melissa Hirsch, RN, BSN, CCRN, in recognition of the kindness and compassion
she provides to her patients.
A registered nurse in the Health System’s
Brunswick Campus Intensive Care Unit, Hirsch was nominated for The DAISY Award by a patient’s
daughter, Samantha Grubb, who says Hirsch “is genuine and dedicated
to her work.”
The nomination excerpt includes, “My mom is a patient of Melissa’s.
She is currently sedated, intubated, and on high oxygen. I live in Indiana,
so it is hard for me to make a trip to Brunswick. Nurse Melissa has been
keeping me updated on my mom’s condition. Every time I am on the
phone with her, I can tell she is genuine and dedicated to her work. She
truly cares about her patients! I cannot express enough how grateful I
am to have Melissa as my mother’s nurse. If I could nominate every
single nurse, I would. They all work so hard! Thank you so much, Melissa,
for all of your hard work. My family appreciates you!”
During the presentation, Hirsch received “A Healer’s Touch”
sculpture, hand-carved by artists of the Shona Tribe in Africa, and Grandy’s
Sinnamon® Rolls, donated by owners, and siblings, Paul and Mary Kay Spence.
Created by The DAISY Foundation™—an acronym for Diseases Attacking
the Immune System—The DAISY Award was established by family members
in memory of J. Patrick Barnes. Barnes 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 Barnes 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 the patients’ family and friends. Today, more than 5,000 health
care facilities and nursing schools worldwide honor nurses with The DAISY award.
Nurses can be nominated for The DAISY Award online at
sghs.org/daisy-award, or nominations may be placed in DAISY boxes located throughout the Health
System’s Brunswick and Camden campuses. A committee consisting of
Health System team members, including clinical and non-clinical staff,
leadership, medical staff and board members, review the nominations and
determine The DAISY Award recipient(s).