DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. – (February 28, 2020) – Halifax Health recently honored two registered nurses – Penny Brooks of Palm Coast and Collette Burkard of Port Orange – as winners of the community health system’s quarterly DAISY Award recognizing extraordinary nurses.
A registered nurse with 18 years of nursing experience, Brooks began her career in healthcare as a licensed practical nurse in 2003. She received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Ohio University in 2013 and is also a 2019 graduate of the Purdue University Global Master of Science in Nursing – Family Nurse Practitioner program. Employed by Halifax Health since 2017, she currently works in the medical center’s Emergency Department.
Brooks says she has known she wanted to become a nurse since she was five years old. “I love to help people whether they need a simple fix or may have a life altering event,” she explains.
The patient family member who nominated Brooks for the DAISY Award wrote, “All I could do was hug her so tight and cry for my friend because Penny’s actions were the most compassionate and caring I’ve felt in a long time.”
A graduate of Daytona State College’s nursing program, Burkard has worked as a registered nurse at Halifax Health for four years in the neurosciences unit.
When asked why she enjoys nursing, Burkard says, “Nursing is more than just passing medications, taking vital signs and completing physical assessments. It’s about making a difference whereas patients don’t feel like ‘just another patient’ in the hospital. I enjoy making them smile when they are not feeling well. I love to be able to spend time with them, getting to know them personally. I enjoy making them feel special.”
The patient who nominated Burkard praised the outstanding care she provided, writing, “Collette was a calming, competent caregiver and assuaged all our fears. She introduced herself, was an attentive listener, did a complete head-to-toe assessment, assessed and re-assessed pain level, reassured us that all my sister’s needs would be met and then followed through with that promise. She made certain that not only all post-op orders were in place and followed; she made certain all our questions were answered and gave us all needed information without us having to ask.”
The DAISY Award is an international program that rewards and celebrates the extraordinary compassionate and skillful care given by nurses every day. A DAISY Award Partner, Halifax Health encourages patients, visitors, nurses, physicians and employees to nominate a nurse for this quarterly honor.
About the DAISY Foundation
The DAISY Foundation was established in 1999 by the family of J. Patrick Barnes who died of complications of the auto-immune disease Idiopathic Thrombocytopenia Purpura (ITP) at the age of 33. During his eight-week hospitalization, his family was awestruck by the care and compassion his nurses provided not only to him, but his entire family. The foundation, whose name DAISY is an acronym for diseases that attack the immune system, has as one of its goals to recognize extraordinary nurses who make an enormous difference in the lives of those they care for with the superhuman work they do every day. To learn more about the DAISY Foundation, go to daisyfoundation.org.
Halifax Health
Recognized as one of the 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals™ in the United States by IBM Watson Health™, Halifax Health serves Volusia and Flagler counties, providing a continuum of healthcare services through a network of organizations including a tertiary hospital, two community hospitals, an urgent care, psychiatric services, a cancer treatment center with five outreach locations, the area’s largest hospice, a center for inpatient rehabilitation, outpatient rehabilitation clinics, primary care walk-in clinics, a clinic specializing in women’s health, a pediatric care community clinic, three children’s medical practices, a home healthcare agency, and an exclusive provider organization. Halifax Health offers the area’s only Level II Trauma Center, Comprehensive Stroke Center, Center for Transplant Services, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Pediatric Emergency Department, Child and Adolescent Behavioral Services, complete Neurosurgical Services, OB Emergency Department and Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit that cares for babies born earlier than 28 weeks. For more information, visit halifaxhealth.org.
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