Always Advocating for Patients: Behavioral Services Nurse Honored with DAISY Award
| Date Posted: 8/12/2021
PINEHURST, N.C. - FirstHealth of the Carolinas nurse Kara Lemonds, R.N., has been honored with the DAISY Award for May 2021. Lemonds, who works in FirstHealth’s Behavioral Services Department, was nominated by a coworker for her team-first approach.
“Kara always jumps to help her teammates with whatever she can. She advocates for her patients, and she makes sound decisions determining the types of care patient’s need,” the coworker wrote in a nomination letter. “Nurses like Kara don’t get enough credit, but she goes above and beyond. You can always count on her.”
Daphne Graham, BSN, R.N., director of inpatient behavioral services, said Kara is an outstanding nurse.
“Kara is a dedicated, empathetic and compassionate nurse. She provided excellent patient care and provides guidance and support to her peers when serving as a charge nurse,” Graham said.
The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses was established by the Daisy Foundation, a not-for-profit, based in Glen Ellen, Calif. The foundation was started by family members in memory of J. Patrick Barnes, who died at the age of 33 from complications of Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura, a little known but not uncommon auto-immune disease.
The care Barnes and his family received from nurses inspired this unique means of thanking nurses for making a profound difference in the lives of their patients and patients’ families. Today, there are more than 2,800 health care facilities in all 50 states and 17 other countries honoring their nurses with the DAISY Award.
FirstHealth of the Carolinas, which includes Moore Regional Hospital, Moore Regional Hospital – Richmond, Moore Regional Hospital – Hoke and Montgomery Memorial Hospital, recognizes an extraordinary nurse each month and has since 2014.
For more information on the DAISY Award, or to nominate a deserving nurse, visit FirstHealth’s website.
