Mammoth Hospital’s Newest Daisy Nurse

Michelle Noxsel, RN, winner of this year’s DAISY Award.

Mammoth Hospital nurses were honored recently with The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses. The award is part of the DAISY Foundation’s program to recognize the amazing efforts nurses perform every day at a luncheon held recently at Mammoth Hospital.

Out of 12 nurses nominated in various specialties throughout Mammoth Hospital, the overall winner was Michelle Noxsel, RN of Mammoth Hospital’s Medical/Surgical department. Michelle started her career at Mammoth Hospital last November. She has been a nurse for five years, three of which were spent travel nursing and working in various specialties.

DAISY is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System. The not-for-profit DAISY Foundation was established by family members in memory of J. Patrick Barnes. Patrick died at the age of 33 in 1999 from complications of Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), a little known but not uncommon auto-immune disease. The care Patrick and his family received from nurses while he was ill inspired this unique means of thanking nurses for making a profound difference in the lives of their patients and their families.

Michelle had three nominations for the award with every nomination calling out Michelle’s extreme pride in her work. “Michelle puts 100% into everything she does with every shift she works,” stated one of her nominations. “One time in particular, she noticed that my bandage was looking a little overdue and needed to be changed, but it was the end of her shift. She still had about 10 other things to do before leaving, but immediately made it her top priority as she felt it was important that my arm should be covered and redone properly. This meant a lot to me as she put my health above everything else she still had to do before she left.”

“I do my best to treat all my patients as if they were family, so it’s really special to be honored in this way.” says Michelle. “Nursing has been a great fit for me because I can apply my nurturing personality and interest in medicine to make a difference.”

CEO, Tom Parker expressed his gratitude toward Michelle and to all nurses, saying “I want you to know that I greatly value and appreciate your commitment to our patients and each other. You are being recognized by your peers because you stand as examples and mentors for all that is good and right in nursing. Thank you for standing out and stepping up every day, every shift. Thank you for your ability to embody clinical excellence and customer service. And, thank you for showing others how it’s done!”

At a presentation given in front of the nurse’s colleagues, physicians, patients, and visitors, Michelle was awarded a certificate by Chief Nursing Officer, Kathleen Alo commending her for being an extraordinary nurse, as well as a sculpture called A Healer’s Touch, hand-carved by artists of the Shona Tribe in Africa.