Nurses at Franciscan Health Munster and Franciscan Health Hammond have recently been named as the hospitals’ first recipients of the DAISY Award, given to recognize nurses who provide extraordinary, compassionate and skillful care.
During surprise presentations, Patrick Maloney, president and CEO at Franciscan Health Dyer, Hammond and Munster, read letters from patients who submitted nominations, remarking that hearing the positive praise warms his heart.
Mary Linaris, RN, was nominated by a patient at the Franciscan Health Cancer Center Munster. 
Tim Gomez, RN, was nominated by a patient he cared for in the Franciscan Health Hammond emergency department. Along with a certificate, Linaris and Gomez were presented with a Healer’s Touch sculpture, a bouquet of daisies and cinnamon rolls. The rolls are a tradition of DAISY Award presentations because they were the favorite treat of Patrick Barnes, whose experience with his nurses inspired the DAISY Foundation. Barnes died of complications of the auto-immune disease Idiopathic Thrombocytopenia Purpura at the age of 33. Daisy is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System.
For more information about the DAISY Awards and the DAISY Foundation honoring nurses internationally, visit www.daisyfoundation.org.