Athens, Texas (August 13, 2024) — Evyn Fletcher, RN, MSN, recently received the DAISY Award for outstanding patient care at UT Health Athens.
Evyn was nominated for the award by a patient she treated in the emergency department who said Evyn provided outstanding medical and emotional care during a traumatic event.
“The extraordinary care I received was not just the precision medical attention I received from Nurse Evyn, but rather her genuine concern and empathy she exhibited to me as a person,” the nomination read. “Often individuals will be given good medical attention (which I received) but often there is an absence of emotional care for the patient when they are clearly under stress, which I was.
“Her job requires her to provide professional medical care, which she did, but she provided more,” the nomination continued. "She provided emotional care, that is not required of her job, and I felt she truly cared about me as a person. That meant a lot to me."
As a winner of the DAISY Award, Evyn received a certificate, a DAISY Award pin and a sculpture called A Healer’s Touch, hand-carved by artists of the Shona Tribe in Zimbabwe. Awards are presented throughout the year at celebrations attended by the honoree’s colleagues, patients and visitors.
The DAISY Foundation is a not-for-profit organization established in memory of J. Patrick Barnes, who died in 1999 at age 33 from complications of an autoimmune disease (DAISY is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System.) The care Barnes 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 patient families. Today, this program has been implemented in more the 1,900 healthcare facilities, including UT Health East Texas.