Witham Health Services Honors Sunflower and Daisy Honoree Recipients

On left is Chandra Wright and on right is Yvonne DeBard, Director of MedSurg-CCU.
On left is Chris Ann McCoskey and on right is Yvonne DeBard, Director-Med Surg-CCU.

Congratulations to Chandra Wright for being named our Sunflower Honoree and Chris-Ann McCoskey for being name our Daisy Honoree!

The Sunflower program at Witham is used to recognize extraordinary care and service provided by non-nursing staff. Sunflower Award nominees personify Witham’s remarkable patient experience.  These staff members consistently demonstrate excellence through their expertise and extraordinary compassionate care. They are recognized as outstanding role models in our Witham community. Witham recognizes an honoree twice a year.

The Daisy Award is an international program that rewards and celebrates the extraordinary compassionate and skillful care given by nurses every day. Witham is proud to be a Daisy Award Partner, recognizing one of our nurses with this special honor twice a year.

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 at the age of 33. During Pat’s 8 week hospitalization, his family was awestruck by the care and compassion his nurses provided not only to Pat but to everyone in his family. So one of the goals they set in creating a Foundation in Pat’s memory was to recognize extraordinary nurses everywhere who make an enormous difference in the lives of so many people by the super-human work they do every day.

Chandra is a Patient Care Technician on our Med/Surg floor. One of her nominations (there were multiple nominations) stated:

Chandra is one of the kindest ladies I’ve had the pleasure of working with. Her caring nature is admirable and heartwarming. Chandra came in after her shift was completed to help a patient get prepared for her daughter’s wedding. She wanted to make certain that the patient looked and felt the best she could for her daughter’s big day. The patient had been so anxious when thinking about all that had to be done. Chandra did a mani/pedi with polish and had promised to return to do the patient’s hair before the ceremony. The patient was already smiling more than she had all day and was much more relaxed. I want to personally thank you for helping our patient feel beautiful and more normal. Thank you for being the person you are! This hospital is all the better for having you!


Chris-Ann is a registered nurse on our Med/Surg floor. Her nomination stated:

I was in the hospital and not doing very well. Chris-Ann was so compassionate and took quite a bit of extra time to explain what was going on and what I should expect. She cried with me and also took time to just hold my hand when there were just no words. She was always so encouraging to me. I feel like the whole hospitalization part would have been so much harder. I was so happy to see her walk in my final day because I knew my discharge would be done correctly. Chris-Ann was a very meticulous nurse and she didn’t hesitate to call the doctor if she had questions. I felt very well taken care of when she was my nurse! Thank you to Witham for having such an awesome staff member to help me out!

Both ladies exemplify Witham’s commitment to excellence and personalized compassionate care. Thank you Chandra and Chris-Ann for bringing who you are as individuals to Witham’s amazing team!

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