Lisa Old, RN
Riverwood Healthcare Center participates in the DAISY Award honoring exemplary nurses who have been recognized by a patient for their extraordinary act of compassion or a relationship that they have created with a patient that truly made a difference. The award is part of the DAISY Foundation’s program to recognize the super-human efforts nurses perform every day.
The latest DAISY award recipient at Riverwood is Lisa Old, a registered nurse for Riverwood’s infusion center, which offers outpatient chemotherapy, immunotherapy and other IV medications. Working as a registered nurse for 39 years, she has spent most of her career working with oncology and infusion therapy patients, with the past five years working at Riverwood.
“Oncology/infusion nursing has been my passion,” Old explains. “It is inspiring to see all the new therapies that help patients live longer with an improved quality of life. I feel privileged to care for these patients.”
Old lives with her husband, Rick, in Deerwood, where she enjoys horseback riding in her leisure time. She has a riding instructor in Aitkin and enjoys regular workouts with a horse named Doctor J.
Kim Muirhead, a Riverwood patient who nominated Lisa Old, shared these comments: “Lisa demonstrates key characteristics that build confidence, supports a patient’s needs and educates everyone around her. Since being diagnosed with breast cancer, all I have wanted was to be healthy and feel normal. So how on Earth did I walk out of my first chemotherapy treatment feeling normal? I can answer that with one word—Lisa.”
Muirhead adds: “Lisa is deserving of the DAISY Award for her care of patients going through one of the hardest battles of their lives. Having her as my nurse armed me somehow to fight fear and the unknown and step into the journey. She had me that first day exactly as she promised and has continued to through each treatment I have received.”
Drew Van Santen, emergency department manager at Riverwood who supervises the infusion center staff, comments: “I have had the pleasure of working with Lisa for over 20 years and have always known her to be the kind of nurse that we all strive to emulate. She is genuinely one of the most compassionate, caring, and warm-hearted nurses I have encountered. Lisa is so deserving of this award, and I am extremely happy that she is being recognized.”
Riverwood Chief Nursing Officer Carla Zupko adds: “On behalf of Riverwood, we are pleased to recognize Lisa as our fourth DAISY Award winner; she is so deserving of this recognition. We encourage patients to nominate other nurses who have delivered outstanding care for the DAISY award, which we give out three times a year.”
Nomination forms are available in Riverwood’s clinic lobbies and included in inpatient packets. The form is also available for downloading at www.riverwoodhealthcare.org (click on News & Events, DAISY Award news release) or by contacting Michelle Gauthier at (218) 927-2121 or mgauthier@rwhealth.org
About the DAISY Award
The not-for-profit DAISY Foundation is based in Glen Ellen, CA, and was established by family members in memory of J. Patrick Barnes. Patrick died at the age of 33 in late 1999 from complications of diopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), a little known but not uncommon auto-immune disease. The care Patrick 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.
The DAISY Award and DAISY Team Award are initiatives of The DAISY Foundation in service to the nursing profession. Additionally, DAISY offers J. Patrick Barnes Grants for Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice Projects, The DAISY Faculty Award to honor inspiring faculty members in schools and colleges of nursing, and The DAISY in Training Award for nursing students. More information is available at http://DAISYfoundation.org
