MEMPHIS, Tenn., June 24, 2009 – Dena Thompson, a nurse working in the pulmonary department at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Memphis, recently earned the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses, given in appreciation of the work nurses do.

Thompson was nominated by nurse manager Roslyn Jackson, who watched Thompson handle a suicidal patient’s abuse and combativeness in a calm manner.

“The family arrived and was very hostile and aggressive when seeing the patient’s restraints and behavior,” Jackson wrote in her nomination. “Dena talked to them calmly to try and diffuse their behavior and did an excellent job in a very difficult situation.”

Each month, Baptist Memphis’ nursing administrators accept nominations and select a nurse to receive the DAISY Award. At a presentation in front of the nurse’s colleagues, physicians, patients and visitors, the honoree receives a certificate and a sculpture called A Healer’s Touch, hand-carved by artists of the Shona Tribe in Africa.

“Dena’s positive and calm attitude, even when dealing with violent patients, makes her an asset to our hospital,” said Dana Dye, chief nursing officer at Baptist Memphis. “She handles herself in any situation and always strives to provide the best possible care to her patients.”

The not-for-profit DAISY Foundation is based in Glen Ellen, Calif., and was established by family members in memory of J. Patrick Barnes. Barnes died at 33 in late 1999 from complications of idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, an auto-immune disease. The care Barnes and his family received from nurses while he was ill led to the creation of the DAISY Award. All the nurses in Thompson’s unit received Cinnabon cinnamon rolls because while Barnes was in the hospital, he once asked his family to bring enough cinnamon rolls for him and all the nurses in his unit.

The Baptist Memphis campus includes the 706-bed hospital that is the flagship of the Baptist Memorial Health Care system. It serves as a major referral center for patients from across the Mid-South and offers many diagnostic, surgical and rehabilitation services. The hospital has added hundreds of beds in the past few years, with the opening of a new patient tower and the Baptist Heart Institute. Consumers have rated Baptist Memphis their most preferred hospital for overall health care services in an independent National Research Corp. poll for the past 13 years in a row, and according to HealthGrades®, Baptist Memphis’ cardiac surgery, stroke care and gastrointestinal surgery programs were among the top 5 percent in the nation in 2008, resulting in the facility receiving the Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence™.

For more information on Baptist Memphis, please call 901-226-5000 or visit memphis.baptistonline.org.

###