Winchester Hospital Recognizes ‘Extraordinary Nurses’ Stephanie Celata and Leigh Ferrante with DAISY Award for Haiti Relief Efforts

Winchester, Mass. — Winchester Hospital has recognized operating room nurses Stephanie Celata, RN of Tewksbury and Leigh Ferrante, RN of Woburn as its most recent recipients of the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses for their role in the relief effort for Haitian earthquake victims in January. The DAISY Award, presented in collaboration with the American Organization of Nurse Executives, is part of the DAISY Foundation’s program to recognize the exceptional efforts that nurses make each day.
 
With less than 24 hours of notice, Celata and Ferrante packed their things, said goodbye to loved ones, got the necessary vaccines and paperwork, and boarded a plane to join a medical team in Haiti. Throughout their eight-day trip, the need for medical treatment, supplies and compassion never slowed as the medical volunteers bore witness to innumerable stories of heartbreak and heroism.
 
They treated a man covered with third-degree burns who was pulled from wreckage three days after the road on which he was driving collapsed, causing his car to burst into flames. A baby in their care survived only because the mother gave her life to shield it from falling debris with her body. Victims who couldn’t walk to the hospital were carried by family members or driven in the beds of pick-up trucks over bumpy dirt roads, which only added to their agony from broken legs and pelvic fractures. Traumatized patients insisted on sleeping outdoors so they didn’t have to fear buildings collapsing on them.
 
The medical volunteers assisted in amputations, skin grafts, wound closures, plastic surgeries and other procedures despite no running water and limited medical equipment, supplies and electricity. Because an X-ray machine wasn’t available, for example, orthopedic surgeons set fractures by feeling the bones. There weren’t enough anesthesia machines to go around, and no device was available to suction blood during surgery.
 
“When skill, caring and compassion were needed in a country ripped apart by disaster and chaos, Stephanie Celata and Leigh Ferrante never hesitated. They got on a plane and courageously went into the unknown,” wrote Kathy Schuler, chief nursing officer and vice president of patient care services at Winchester Hospital. “We, the nursing staff of Winchester Hospital, are honored to be your colleagues and are tremendously proud of you. You have made a difference!”
 
Winchester Hospital has joined hundreds of medical facilities across the country in honoring extraordinary nurses with a DAISY Award each month. Based in Glen Ellen, Calif., the non-profit DAISY Foundation was established in memory of J. Patrick Barnes, who died at age 33 from complications of the autoimmune disease Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP) in 1999. The DAISY Award, which stands for “Diseases Attacking the Immune System,” was established by Barnes’ wife and parents as a gesture of thanks to nurses nationwide for the profound difference they make in the lives of patients and their families.
 
In recognition of their selection, Celata and Ferrante received a DAISY Award pin, hand-carved sculpture called “A Healer’s Touch,” and certificate that 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.”
 
To learn more about the DAISY Award program, visit www.daisyfoundation.org.
 
About Winchester Hospital
Winchester Hospital is the first community hospital in Massachusetts to earn Magnet recognition, the American Nurses Association’s highest honor for nursing excellence. As the northwest suburban Boston area’s leading provider of comprehensive health care services, the 229-bed facility provides care in orthopedics, general and vascular surgery, pediatrics, cardiology, pulmonary medicine, oncology, gastroenterology, rehabilitation, radiation oncology, pain management, obstetrics/gynecology and a Level IIB Special Care Nursery. Winchester Hospital has clinical affiliations with several nationally recognized hospitals in the region, including Children’s Hospital Boston, Tufts Medical Center and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. To learn more, visit www.winchesterhospital.org.

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