DAISY Awards Blossom at Adelphi

Adelphi’s first recipients of the DAISY Awards “for extraordinary nurses,” presented by the College of Nursing and Public Health, are Christina Korsanos, who graduated magna cum laude in May 2018, and Patricia Shea, an adjunct nursing faculty member. Christina Korsanos is a graduate of Northport High School.

College of Nursing and Public Health Interim Dean Elaine Smith ’78, M.S. ’88, Ed.D., said this recognition program to honor exceptional compassion by faculty and students is part of a national initiative by The DAISY Foundation across numerous hospitals and schools of nursing.

Ani Jacob, D.N.P., clinical assistant professor of nursing, who championed development of the DAISY Awards process at the College, explained that DAISY is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System.

The DAISY Award “celebrates nurses who provide extraordinary, compassionate and skillful care,” the foundation’s website notes.

Although Adelphi is a new participant in the program, the awards and foundation began in 1999 in memory of Patrick Barnes, who died at age 33 from complications of the autoimmune disease idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura.

Dr. Jacob said that this year and in future years, the student-in-training DAISY Award goes to one deserving undergraduate nursing student in their third or fourth year of study for their commitment to “compassionate care and outstanding clinical skills to patients and families.” The faculty award is given to one nursing faculty member who “exemplifies the kind of faculty member that students, colleagues, staff and administrators recognize as an exemplary educator and an outstanding role model.”

Students and faculty nominate individuals for the DAISY Awards and the DAISY Awards committee members then vote to select the winners from those nominations.