Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital recognizes its first Daisy Award winner

For the first time, nurses at Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital (APD), a member of Dartmouth Health, are being honored with The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses ®. Tabitha L. Ferranti, RN in the Multi-Specialty Clinic at APD, is the first recipient this May.

The award is part of the DAISY Foundation’s mission to recognize the extraordinary, compassionate care nurses provide patients and families every day. Nurses may be nominated by patients, families, and colleagues for the award and the award recipient is chosen by the Professional Development Council at APD.

Tabitha received two nominations, one from a patient and one from a peer.

“An APD nurse has shown this 71-year-old man that she is very concerned about my condition,” the patient nominator wrote. “She has gone above and beyond any expectations of a nurse’s duties. About seven years ago, when I was in my early 60s, I was working as a clerk for the USPS working 10-to-12-hour shifts. My feet began to bother me bad…and my PCP determined I had neuropathy, which I inherited from my grandmother and mother. I was put on pain management (medications). Everything was going OK till I turned 65 and went on Medicare. The pharmacy notifies me that my insurance denies my order. Great pain and maybe withdrawals--what to do? I call APD. The nurse was deeply concerned with my problem; I could tell she loved her job and was there for her patients. She emanates a strong, caring, concerned, passionate attitude. She has made this old man very relieved that he has such a caring nurse taking care of him. Anyone at the care center — receptionists, doctors, and fellow workers — you mention her name they smile and say what a great person she is. I cannot say enough nice things about this amazing nurse.”

“Tabitha works to the top of her license and incorporates up to date protocols in her daily nursing care,” Ferranti’s peer nominator wrote. “At one point, there was a patient who was having a reaction to sensocaine from a cortisone injection provided in clinic. Tabitha was proactive in addressing the concern with re-positioning, attending to patient's wishes with a smile/comforting words, and attentively/actively listening to patient. Tabitha stayed with the patient for the next one to two hours, keeping close monitoring of any acute changes, providing re-assurance, and explicit instructions. I am nominating Tabitha for this award for her passion for patient-centered care.”

The DAISY Foundation is a not-for-profit organization, established in memory of J. Patrick Barnes, by members of his family. Patrick 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. (DAISY is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System.) The care Patrick 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 patient families.

"When Patrick was critically ill, our family experienced first-hand the remarkable skill and care nurses provide patients every day and night. Yet these unsung heroes are seldom recognized for the super-human, extraordinary, compassionate work they do.  The kind of work the nurses at APD are called on to do every day epitomizes the purpose of The DAISY Award,” said Bonnie Barnes, FAAN, President and Co-Founder of The DAISY Foundation.

“We are proud to be among the healthcare organizations participating in The DAISY Award program. It’s important that our nurses know their work is highly valued, and The DAISY Foundation provides a way for us to do that,” said Jean Ten Haken, MSN, RN, CENP, Chief Nursing Officer and Chief Operating Officer at APD.