SVHC Honors the SVMC ICU Team with DAISY Team Award

Left to right: Thomas A. Dee, FACHE, president and CEO of Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC); Colleen Doyle, RN; Eva Sagan RN; Mindy Dame MSN RN, director of ICU and Women’s and Children’s Services; Kelly Whitman, LNA; Alex Cross LNA; Emily Mallory, MSN, RN, CCR; Adrienne Gigliotti, BSN, RN, CCRN; and Pamela Duchene, PhD, APRN, SVHC’s chief nursing officer and vice president for Patient Care Services.

BENNINGTON, VT—June 23, 2022—The Intensive Care Unit (ICU) team at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC), part of Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC), was the recipient of the DAISY Team Award for Extraordinary Nurses in May. The department was nominated in a heartfelt message from a patient recovering from an overdose.

The nominator wrote, “I would just like to sincerely thank all the staff on the floor for taking the best possible care of me. Each nurse and LNA showed me so much empathy and gratitude, love, and respect. Each nurse had so much to bring to the table and, in combination, gave me the best care I’ve ever had. [It was] a judgement-free zone, where I didn’t feel condemned or belittled for my illness. Thank you all for your hard work, compassion, and dedication. I wouldn’t be able to make it through all of this without each and every one of you.”

Duchene presented the award during a surprise presentation in the ICU last month.

“This nomination brings tears to my eyes,” said Pamela Duchene, PhD, APRN, SVHC’s chief nursing officer and vice president for Patient Care Services. “Our ICU nurses know that medicine saves bodies but, in many situations, it’s kindness that saves lives. I am inspired by their heroic life-saving work.”

The ICU Department is made up of 25 full- and part-time staff members. Together with medical staff, they offer intensive care to as many as 10 patients at a time.

“I am grateful to have a team that is genuinely compassionate and empathetic to all patients,” said Mindy Dame MSN RN, the department’s director. “It is an honor to care for the patients in our community with kindness and to be able to witness the difference it makes for them and their families.”

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, healthcare 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. In addition, SVMC ranked fourth nationwide for the value of care it provides by the Lown Institute Hospital Index in 2020 and is a five-time recipient of the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Magnet® recognition for nursing excellence. The health system is fortunate to have the support of platinum-level corporate sponsor Mack, a leading supplier of contract manufacturing services and injection molded plastic parts based in Arlington, VT.

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.