Julie Kotasek and Deborah Bell are the May DAISY Award recipients!

A program to recognize the care and compassion of extraordinary nurses continues at UHS with Julie Kotasek, RN, and Deborah Bell, RN, UHS Binghamton Employee Health Office, being named the May winners of the DAISY Award! Julie and Deborah were recognized and presented with the award for the achievement, and enjoyed cinnamon rolls, a symbolic treat in honor of Patrick Barnes, whose experience inspired the award.

The Employee Health Office nurses were nominated by colleague Jackie Rice. In her nomination letter, Jackie spoke about the compassion these two displayed for an elderly couple in need. When leaving the office one evening, Julie and Debbie came upon the couple, who were sitting in the building lobby and looking very distraught.  They overheard the couple talking about having an issue getting a ride home, so they stopped and offered to help. After being unable to get a taxi, the nurses used the Uber app to arrange a ride.  They even paid for the ride, as it wasn’t the couple’s fault that their appointment had run late.  Both Debbie and Julie waited until the Uber arrived and asked the driver to make sure the patients got safely into their house.

"I feel strongly that both nurses should be recognized for their selfless act of helping this couple in need when they could easily have turned their heads, walked to their cars and gone home," said Jackie Rice.  "It was very compassionate for them to assist and to pay for their ride."

Thank you to Julie and Debbie for displaying such Compassion to this couple, a stellar example of members of our team living "The UHS Way!"

The DAISY (Diseases Attacking the Immune SYstem) Award is an international recognition program that honors and celebrates the skillful, compassionate care nurses provide every day. The DAISY Foundation was established by the family of J. Patrick Barnes after the Seattle man died from complications of the auto-immune disease ITP in 1999. During his hospitalization, the family members deeply appreciated the care and compassion shown to Patrick and his loved ones. When he died, they felt compelled to say thank you to nurses in a very public way. To learn more, visit DAISYFoundation.org. 

Started at UHS in April 2021, nurses are nominated by anyone in the organization - patients, family members, other nurses, physicians, other clinicians and staff - anyone who experiences or observes extraordinary care being provided by a nurse.

Nominations are submitted by using a form found on NYUHS.org. On this form, the person will be able to tell the story of why they are nominating the nurse, while also choosing which UHS Value (Compassion, Trust, Respect, Teamwork, Innovation) the nurse displayed.

If you have any questions, please contact Toni Nash at (607) 763-6896 or send an email to daisy@nyuhs.org.