DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. – (May 30, 2019) – Halifax Health recently honored two registered nurses – Celeste Harris and Kolby Kerrutt – as winners of the community health system’s quarterly DAISY Award recognizing extraordinary nurses.
A registered nurse for six years, Harris, a Port Orange resident, work’s in the medical-surgical unit at Halifax Health Medical Center of Port Orange. She is a graduate of Daytona State College’s nursing program and has been a Halifax Health employee for six months.
The patient who nominated Harris for the DAISY Award wrote, “I love Celeste so much. I feel like I made a real friend. Celeste is, by far, hands down, the best nurse I have ever had in my life. She was genuinely concerned about me, was caring and she was on time for all my medication times. She made sure I was comfortable and not in severe pain. She explained things to me.”
Harris says she enjoys nursing because of her mother’s influence. “My mother was a registered nurse in a nursing home. She had an incredible faith and love for people. I watched just what an amazing person she was as a nurse. I wanted to be so much like my mother. That is why I pursued nursing. I love people, I love talking, I love caring. I love making a difference for a patient during some of their most difficult times,” Harris explains.
Daytona Beach resident Kolby Kerrutt has worked as a registered nurse at Halifax Health for nearly a year in the medical center’s Clinical Decision Unit. He is also a graduate of Daytona State College’s nursing program.
When asked why he enjoys nursing, Kerrutt says, “I enjoy seeing patients getting better and being there during their time of need.”
The patient who nominated Kerrutt for this recognition wrote, “Kolby is a highly skilled nurse who is really devoted to his patients. He is kind, polite and hard working. I am a retired registered nurse nursing supervisor. I can tell an outstanding nurse when I see one. You should be proud of him.”
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 by The Joint Commission as a Top Performer on Key Quality Measures, Halifax Health serves Volusia and Flagler counties, providing a continuum of healthcare services through a network of organizations including a tertiary hospital, community hospital, freestanding emergency department, 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 walk-in 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, 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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