Bonnie Barnes

In 1999, Mark’s son Patrick, age 33, developed the auto-immune disease ITP. Bonnie and Mark were at his side when Patrick died after 8 weeks in the hospital. The nursing care they experienced during Pat’s hospitalization compelled them to express their gratitude to nurses everywhere for the clinical skill and especially compassionate care nurses provide every day. This is why the Barnes’s created The DAISY Foundation™ (an acronym for diseases attacking the immune system) and The DAISY Award® for Extraordinary Nurses.

Today, The DAISY Award is celebrated in over 7,300 healthcare facilities and nursing schools in 43 countries. Over 230,000 nurses have been honored, having been nominated by their patients, patient families, and colleagues. Each nomination (over 3.2 million to date) tells the story of extraordinary compassion and care provided to a patient. The impact of these stories’ public DAISY Award celebrations on nurses and their organizations is well documented. The DAISY Award provides healthcare leaders the means to highlight all the “right” going on in their organizations, providing great role-modelling opportunities and a way to make tangible the organizations’ mission and values. The program helps drive organizational culture, inspires and motivates extraordinary nursing, nourishes teamwork, enhances nurse engagement, promotes the professional image of nursing, and helps offsets compassion fatigue with compassion satisfaction.

As additional expressions of gratitude to nurses, the Foundation funds grants for nurses doing research and EBP projects and for nurses going on medical missions.

DAISY’s goal is to honor nurses wherever they practice, wherever they are in their careers – across the continuum of care and internationally.