Vernal, UT (July 28, 2025) – Nurses at Ashley Regional Medical Center will soon be honored with The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses ®. The award is part of the DAISY Foundation's mission to recognize the extraordinary, compassionate nursing care they provide patients and families every day. 

The DAISY Foundation is a not-for-profit organization, established in memory of J. Patrick Barnes, by members of his family.  Patrick died at the age of 33 in late 1999 from complications of Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), a little known but not uncommon autoimmune disease. (DAISY is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System.)  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.

“We are proud to be among the healthcare organizations participating in The DAISY Award program,” said Grant Barraclough, Chief Nursing Officer at Ashley Regional Medical Center. “Nurses go above and beyond every day. It’s important that our nurses know their work is highly valued, and The DAISY Foundation provides a way for us to do that.”  

Beginning August 1, patients, families and colleagues may nominate an extraordinary nurse through written nomination forms available throughout Ashley Regional Medical Center or through an online nomination available at AshleyRegional.com/daisy-award.

The DAISY Award recipient will be chosen by a committee at Ashley Regional. This prestigious award will be presented annually at a celebration attended by the Honoree’s colleagues, patients, and visitors. Each Honoree receives a certificate commending her or him as an "Extraordinary Nurse."  The certificate reads: "In deep appreciation of all you do, who you are, and the incredibly meaningful difference you make in the lives of so many people."  Honorees also receive a DAISY Award pin and a beautiful and meaningful sculpture called A Healer’s Touch, hand-carved by artists of the Shona Tribe in Zimbabwe.

Bonnie Barnes, FAAN, Doctor of Humane Letters (h.c) and Co-Founder of The DAISY Foundation said, "When Patrick was critically ill, our family experienced first-hand the remarkable skill and care nurses provide patients every day and night. Yet these unsung heroes are seldom recognized for the super-human, extraordinary, compassionate work they do.  The kind of work the nurses at Ashley Regional Medical Center are called on to do every day epitomizes the purpose of The DAISY Award."

About Ashley Regional Medical Center

Through its 39-bed, Joint Commission-accredited acute care facility and physician practices, Ashley Regional Medical Center provides inpatient and outpatient services to the populations of Uintah, Duchesne and Daggett counties in Utah and Rio Blanco County in Colorado. Ashley Regional has been serving the Basin for more than 80 years and is a designated Level IV trauma center, an Accredited Chest Pain Center and has been designated as a Stroke Receiving Facility by the Utah State Department of Health. The healthcare workers provide safe, high-quality patient care across labor and delivery, surgery, imaging, outpatient care, the 24/7/365 emergency room and many other specialties. Ashley Regional has been recognized for excellence in quality indicators and measures, including being named a Top 100 Rural & Community Hospital for nine consecutive years by Chartis Center for Rural Health and a 100 Top Hospital by Fortune/PINC AI for two consecutive years. Ashley Regional also received back-to-back Leapfrog ‘A’ grades for Fall 2024 and Spring 2025.                       

About the DAISY Foundation

The DAISY Foundation is a not-for-profit organization, established in memory of J. Patrick Barnes, by members of his family.  Patrick died at the age of 33 in late 1999 from complications of Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), a little known but not uncommon auto-immune disease. (DAISY is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System.)  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.

In addition to the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses, the Foundation expresses gratitude to the nursing profession internationally in thousands of healthcare facilities and schools of nursing with recognition of Nurse-led Teams, Nurse Leaders, Nurses Advancing Health Equity, Nursing Ethics, Nurse Educators, Nursing Students, Lifetime Achievement in Nursing and through the J. Patrick Barnes Grants for Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice Projects, Medical Mission Grants and their new Health Equity Grant programs. More information is available at http://DAISYfoundation.org.       

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