Two UB Nursing students receive The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nursing Students

The DAISY – Diseases Attacking the Immune SYstem – awards were founded in 1999 by the family of J. Patrick Barnes, who died at age 33 due to complications from an autoimmune disease. The nursing care Patrick received profoundly touched his family, and they wanted to say “thank you” to nurses everywhere by establishing a recognition program.

DAISY awards are given to nurses who demonstrate great clinical skills and leadership and strong patient care and compassion.

The DAISY Foundation established The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nursing Students as a national recogition program to celebrate nursing students who "make the nurse-paitent conncetion that makes such a difference in the health care experience."

"We are very thrilled to be offer the first DAISY awards [to our students] because it is also used in hospitals and it really shows recognition for the compassion and caring that our students embody. This allows not only students and faculty, but also patients and their families to nominate students, so it really broadens the perspective of who wins this award," says Cathy Mann, assistant dean for undergraduate studies.

UB SON faculty nominated seven traditional program students (Kyle Ciehomski, Yi Li, Rebecca Moore, Ryan (Yuanpeng) Ni, Sydney Rotunno, Samuel Sharabani and Lisa Wawrzynek) and 11 ABS students (Brandon Battaglia, Aimee Cregan, Victoria Hoeltke, Cheryl Klemenz, Emmalyn Magara, Kelly McCoy, Victoria McQueen, Donnelle Piscitelli, June Rowe-Hill, Elizabeth Thevanayagam and Amanda Wareham). Each nominee received a certificate of recognition.

The two award winners were Kyle Ciehomski (traditional program) and Kelly McCoy (ABS program). Both award recipients were nominated by Kelly Smith, a UB SON clinical instructor.

"Winning the DAISY award means a lot to me because a lot of what nursing has to do with is being compassionate and offering holistic care for people. It means a lot to me that other people recognize I put in a lot of hard work into the profession and that I try to have the best outcome for my patients," says Ciehomski.

McCoy says, "I am truly honored to have been given this award and I am extremely touched that I was nominated by one of the most amazing clinical instructors I have ever had, Professor Smith. As a mom who has spent many hours away from my own kids, to be able to receive this, especially for my pediatric rotation, truly touches my heart and means more than you’ll ever know. Thank you, UB."

The award winners receive a certificate, a DAISY award pin, a hand-carved serpentine stone Healer's Touch sculpture from Zimbabwe, and a feature on the DAISY foundation website.