Photo (l to r): Scott Ellis, SARH Vice President of Patient Services; Deb Adams, ARNP; Infection Prevention RN, Bailee Schleisman; and Lori Pietig, St. Anthony Cancer Services Director. Pietig and Schleisman are SARH’s DAISY Award coordinators.
A provider who has served St. Anthony Regional Hospital and their patients for a total of 28 years was recently recognized with the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurse Leaders at a special gathering recently. Deb Adams, ARNP is a native of Windom, Minn., but began her career as a nurse with St. Anthony in 1988 after receiving her bachelor of science in nursing from Morningside College. Adams began working on the medical/surgical floor, the intensive care unit and worked her way up to be the director of the dialysis unit. She graduated with her master of science in nursing and nurse practitioner accreditation in 2011 and returned to St. Anthony in 2015 to serve as the director for the Chronic Care Center. In 2016 she earned her wound care certification and now advises patients as a nurse practitioner in wound care and chronic disease management, including diabetes. Nominators say Adams is creative in finding solutions and is friendly while always explaining everything. Another says she is very reassuring, professional, kind, understanding and helpful. She has instilled the utmost confidence in those she treats as well as their families. The not-for-profit DAISY Foundation was founded by the family of J. Patrick Barnes, who died at the age of 33 in 1999 from complications of Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), a little known but not uncommon auto-immune disease. The care provided to Barnes and his family inspired this way of thanking nurses for making profound differences in the lives of their patients and the patient’s family.
