SVHC Announces DAISY Award Winner

BENNINGTON, VT—August 13, 2021—Jodi Henderson, RN-C, LCCE, of the Women’s and Children’s Services Department, was a the July recipient of the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses at Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC).

“We are so grateful to have Jodi working in our Women’s and Children’s Department,” said Pamela Duchene, PhD, APRN, SVHC’s chief nursing officer and vice president for Patient Care Services. “Her patients appreciate her energy, skill, and confidence. Those powerful qualities see them through the miraculous and challenging process of labor and delivery.”

Duchene presented the award during a surprise presentation in the Women’s and Children’s Services Department at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC).

Henderson was nominated by a patient who had been in labor for 24 hours before she arrived for her shift.

“She coached me through the experience, providing a ton of expertise without being at all condescending,” the patient remembered. “And she helped give me and my husband a great experience giving birth to our daughter.”

Henderson received her associates in nursing from Fulton Montgomery Community College in Johnstown, NY, in 2007. Since that time, she has worked caring for birthing mothers and newborns in a variety of settings, including the Mother Baby Unit of St. Clare’s Hospital in Schenectady, NY; the Neonatal Intensive Care Unity and Newborn Nursery at Bellevue Women’s Care Center in Niskayuna, NY; and the Pediatric Long-term Care Facility at St. Margaret’s Center in Albany, NY. She has worked on the Women’s and Children’s Unit at SVMC since 2019. She is a Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator and recently expanded the Childbirth Education offerings at SVMC.

"It is a privilege to support expectant parents on their unique journey to Parenthood," said Henderson. "It is such rewarding work, and receiving this honor from a patient makes coming to work each day even more meaningful."

The DAISY Award is part of a national merit-based recognition program established by the DAISY Foundation. It celebrates nurses’ education, training, and skill. Nominations can be submitted by patients, families, physicians, and colleagues. All nominations are blinded, so that they are anonymous before being reviewed by a selection committee. One nurse is then chosen as the DAISY Award winner. DAISY Awards are presented on a regular basis, usually bi-monthly or quarterly.

About SVHC:
Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC) is a comprehensive, preeminent, health care system providing exceptional, convenient, and affordable care to the communities of Bennington and Windham Counties of Vermont, eastern Rensselaer and Washington Counties of New York, and northern Berkshire County in Massachusetts. SVHC includes Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC), Southwestern Vermont Regional Cancer Center, the Centers for Living and Rehabilitation, and the SVHC Foundation. SVMC includes 25 primary and specialty care practices.

Southwestern Vermont Health Care is among the most lauded small rural health systems in the nation. It is the recipient of the American Hospital Association’s 2020 Rural Hospital Leadership Award. SVMC ranked fourth nationwide for the value of care it provides by the Lown Institute Hospital Index and is a five-time recipient of the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Magnet® recognition for nursing excellence. It has also received the highest marks possible from the Leapfrog Group. 

Southwestern Vermont Medical Center provides exceptional care without discriminating on the basis of an individual’s age, race, ethnicity, religion, culture, language, physical or mental disability, socioeconomic status, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression. Language assistance services, free of charge, are available at 1-800-367-9559.