Michael Kenney of Richmond, Vermont, a nurse working in hematology and medical oncology at The University of Vermont Medical Center, has received a “DAISY” Award, which recognizes nurses who provide care to patients and their families with great clinical skill and extraordinary compassion.
Kenney, 26, joined the hematology and medical oncology inpatient staff as a registered nurse in February. He had worked as a licensed nursing assistant on the same unit for more than three years before getting his bachelor’s degree in nursing science. The patient who nominated Kenney for the award had just started chemotherapy and was feeling overwhelmed, according to the nomination letter.
“I am used to being the caretaker in the world, and it’s hard to have roles reversed, but Michael made me feel safe and like I was in good hands,” the patient wrote. “The first night I was there without my family and was all alone and woke up at 4:30 a.m. full of questions and anxiety, he talked with me and answered my questions and helped me understand how I could best be a good partner in my own care by just taking care of myself and not being afraid to ask for what I need.”
Good nursing requires not only technical skills but compassion – a combination of the head and the heart, Kenney says. Whenever he can, he tries to drop-in and connect with patients. “I feel it really improves care when we can have that time to sit and explain,” he says.
The DAISY Award is a nationwide program that started in 1999 to honor nurses at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance who cared for a young father named Patrick Barnes. DAISY stands for diseases attacking the immune system, which was the cause of Barnes’ death. Today, more than 3,300 healthcare facilities and nursing schools in all 50 states and 18 other countries honor nurses with the DAISY Award.
Patients can nominate a nurse any time by visiting https://www.uvmhealth.org/medcenterdaisy or sending an email to [email protected]. An honoree is chosen from the nominations every two months.
About the University of Vermont Medical Center
The University of Vermont Medical Center is a 447-bed tertiary care regional referral center providing advanced care to approximately 1 million residents in Vermont and northern New York. Together with our partners at the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont and the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, we are Vermont’s academic medical center. The University of Vermont Medical Center also serves as a community hospital for approximately 150,000 residents in Chittenden and Grand Isle counties.
The University of Vermont Medical Center is a member of The University of Vermont Health Network, an integrated system established to deliver high quality academic medicine to every community we serve.
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