UT Health Decorates Local Nurse Mary Harwell

TYLER — “While many people are excellent nurses, when someone takes the time to write about their experience – that’s special.” That is just one of the reasons , LTAC chief nursing officer Laurie Lehnhof-Watts said that Mary Harwell, RN, was recently selected by UT Health East Texas as a DAISY Award winner. Lehnhof-Watts continued, “This award is for nurses who provide excellent patient care.” As a winner of the DAISY Award, Harwell received a certificate, a DAISY Award pin and a sculpture called A Healer’s Touch, hand-carved by artists of the Shona Tribe in Zimbabwe.

Awards are presented throughout the year at celebrations attended by the honoree’s colleagues, patients and visitors. The DAISY Foundation is a not-for-profit organization established in memory of J. Patrick Barnes, who died in 1999 at age 33 from complications of an autoimmune disease (DAISY is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System.) The care Barnes 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. Today, this program has been implemented in more the 1,900 healthcare facilities, including UT Health East Texas.