Colleen Murphy Miller, RN, Internal Medicine/Pediatrics, has been named a DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses winner at the SSM Health Fond du Lac Regional Clinic.

The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses® is part of The DAISY Foundation’s mission to recognize the extraordinary, compassionate nursing care they provide patients and families every day. 

The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses®, an international recognition program, honors the remarkable skill, kindness, and humanity nurses bring to patient care each day. Established in memory of J. Patrick Barnes, who passed away in 1999 from complications of ITP, the DAISY Foundation was created by his family to thank nurses for the extraordinary difference they make for patients and families through both clinical excellence and compassionate presence.

Colleen was nominated by a colleague who wrote:

Colleen is always showing up and giving 100% each time she comes to a medical code. Today, we had a patient fall outside and hit her chin which caused a cut. She was coming in for lab work. We made the plan for the patient to go into lab for her services and get ‘cleaned’ up. Colleen suggested not using alcohol wipes as they could causing burning. She was willing to go to her department on second floor to grab supplies for cleaning the wound. She took extra time and energy to make this patient’s care amazing. Thank you, Colleen, for going the extra mile for this patient! I appreciate the willingness to do more for this patient.

Colleen was recognized during a brief ceremony and received a certificate commending her as 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.” Honorees also receive a DAISY Award pin, and a beautiful and meaningful sculpture called A Healer’s Touch, hand-carved by artists of the Shona Tribe in Zimbabwe. 

“When Patrick was critically ill, our family experienced first-hand the remarkable skill and care nurses provide patients every day and night,” according to Bonnie Barnes, FAAN, president 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 the Fond du Lac Regional Clinic are called on to do every day epitomizes the purpose of The DAISY Award.”

More information is available at http://DAISYfoundation.org.