Belleville resident receives award for extraordinary nursing

Pennsylvania College of Technology recently presented a DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nursing Students to Jada M. Buchanan, of Belleville.

Buchanan is pursuing an associate degree in nursing.

Her nominator wrote about Buchanan’s empathy for patients during educational rotations at clinical sites:

“Jada strives to do her best in clinical, and she genuinely cares for her patients. She reports her findings to the nursing staff and continues to ask what she can do to follow through with those findings to advocate for her patient.

“One specific patient that Jada had at clinical was a patient who had severe dementia. She was confused and scared. Jada talked with the patient and answered every single question, regardless of how many times she answered the same question. She was able to keep the patient calm, and this helped a lot with her dementia in the evening. Jada sat with the patient and held her hand until she fell asleep one evening. I would continuously check on her in the patient room, and each time, she was sitting at the bedside holding her patient’s hand, knowing this kept the patient comfortable and calm. When the patient fell asleep, Jada was able to leave the room quietly and report this to the primary registered nurse.”

Her nominator added: “It's true, empathy is not something that can be taught. However, it is needed to be a good nurse. Jada has so much empathy for each patient under her care at clinical. Having this empathy, I think she will make a great nurse; she will be successful throughout her career, and she will be an asset to the nursing profession. I would like to thank Jada for making me realize that I continue to teach for the students like her.”

Buchanan is also a member of the Phi Theta Kappa international honor society.

The DAISY Awards are a project of The DAISY Foundation, a not-for-profit organization established in memory of J. Patrick Barnes by members of his family. The care Patrick and his family received from nurses while he was ill inspired the creation of The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses to provide recognition and thank nurses for making a profound difference in the lives of their patients and patient families.

The foundation expanded the awards program to academic institutions in order to recognize the faculty who inspire compassionate care in their students and the students who demonstrate it during their education.

Penn College implemented its DAISY Awards program in 2022. One faculty award and three student awards are presented each year. Recipients can be nominated by peers, colleagues, patients, families or alumni. Winners are selected by a committee in Penn College’s nursing program.

Each honoree receives a certificate, a DAISY Award pin and a sculpture called “A Healer’s Touch.”

To learn more about Penn College’s nursing degrees, call 570-327-4525.

For information about the college, a national leader in applied technology education, email the Admissions Office or call toll-free 800-367-9222.

Photo provided by the Penn College nursing program