Vicki Graves, NICU RN and Daisy Award recipient.

A Community Memorial Health System nurse, Vicki Graves, is a recent recipient of the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses, a peer-elected awards program the hospital participates in each quarter. Nurses are nominated for the DAISY awards by patients, family members and colleagues.

Graves, a registered nurse in Community Memorial Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, is known at the hospital for her compassionate care, concern, and dedication to patient health.

Graves was nominated by a colleague who wrote:

I would like to nominate Vicki Graves for the Daisy Award for many reasons, being an excellent charge nurse, her dedication to the unit, and always making herself available to others. I have had the pleasure of working with Vicki for almost 10 years now and there have been many situations where I have been grateful for her teamwork, professionalism, and most importantly her clinical skills. I would have to say the one that stands out would be about 8 years ago when I was still a fairly new nurse and had to experience my first "code" on one of my patients at the end of our shift, Vicki stayed over with me for almost 3 hours helping me with the paperwork and basically just debriefing with me on what has been one of the scariest things I have had to go through as a nurse so far. As our permanent charge nurse on nights, Vicki is not always the one at the bedside with our babies and their parents so she is not always given the proper recognition, but our unit would not run as smooth as it does without her.

Each quarter, a nurse is selected to receive the DAISY Award by an awards committee. At a presentation given in front of the nurse’s peers, patients and leadership, the honoree receives a certificate of commendation for being 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.” The honoree is also given a sculpture called A Healer’s Touch, hand-carved by artists of the Shona Tribe in Africa.

The DAISY Award is supported by the not-for-profit DAISY (Diseases Attacking the Immune System) Foundation. Bonnie and J. Mark Barnes created this foundation and award as a way to remember their son, J. Patrick Barnes. Patrick had a disease that attacked his body and was in the hospital for a long time. His nurses did such a great job with him that the Barnes family created an award that continues to recognize the excellent work nurses do every day.

Said CMHS Chief Nursing Officer, Cynthia Fahey, “We are proud to be among the hospitals participating in the DAISY Award program. Nurses are heroes every day. It’s important that our nurses know their work is highly valued, and The DAISY Foundation provides a way for us to do that.”

Community Memorial Health System is a not-for-profit health system, which is comprised of Community Memorial Hospital, Ojai Valley Community Hospital, and twelve family-practice health centers entitled Centers for Family Health. The health system is located in Ventura County, California.