Contact: Shelli Dankoff / Media Relations Specialist 309.655.3897 / 309.634.8583 Blackberry

Peoria (March 4, 2010) – OSF Saint Francis Medical Center is pleased to announce the most recent winner of the DAISY Award, which recognizes outstanding nursing care. Winners are nominated by patients and their families.

The DAISY Award for November 2009 was presented to Meika Claerhout of Elmwood who works in the Emergency Department. She was nominated by the wife of a patient. The wife is also an OSF Saint Francis Medical Center employee.

Part of her nomination reads: “On 11/9/09 I was at work on Antepartum when I received a phone call that my husband had suffered a massive heart attack at his workplace. My co-workers immediately rallied around me and my family. Meika stayed in the trauma room with me and explained everything that was being done to my husband. She told me what would be done for him once he was stabilized, she encouraged me to talk to him and touch him. Once he was stable enough, Meika went with us to the Cath Lab and then she explained what they would be doing there. If it weren't for Meika, I truly don't think that I could have made it through that horrible morning. Her calm presence made me believe that (my husband) was in expert hands and that he would be all right.” Because of the care he received, her husband was discharged after just three days in the hospital.

OSF Saint Francis Medical Center is the first hospital in the Midwest to participate in the DAISY Award, a national endeavor. The hospital receives approximately 180 DAISY nominations each month. From those nominations, a panel of five judges from the Professional Nursing Congress Recognition/Communication Committee at OSF Saint Francis chooses a monthly winner. Nurses who win a DAISY Award receive an award pin as well as a hand-carved Shona sculpture from Zimbabwe, an award certificate, a bouquet of daisies, cinnamon powder called “DAISY dust”, a package of tissues, and cinnamon rolls for their entire unit.