DAISY Award Given to Lori Cifarelli, RN

Antelope Valley Medical Center (AVMC) nurse Lori Cifarelli, RN, has been honored with the DAISY Award, an internationally respected honor that recognizes extraordinary nursing care.

Cifarelli, a maternity nurse, has been with AVMC since 1999. She was nominated for the compassionate and nurturing care she recently provided to a new mom who was legally blind. With the patient’s new baby in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), Lori went above and beyond to ensure the mom’s needs were met.

"Lori made sure she accommodated this family throughout their stay," the nomination stated. "She ensured that the patient was able to easily access and properly use her breast pump to provide food for her baby. And she brought the patient to the NICU to visit her infant throughout her shift whenever it was requested. Lori is always doing her absolute best to meet her patients’ needs with true compassion and a smile."

AVMC has been participating in the DAISY Award program since 2012. Local recipients are selected based on their clinical expertise and demonstration of extraordinary compassionate care. Nominations are submitted by patients, physicians and co-workers. The AV hospital DAISY team reviews all submissions and selects the nurse honoree.

DAISY is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System. The DAISY Award is a collaboration of the DAISY Foundation and the American Organization of Nurse Executives, and was established in 1999 by the family of J. Patrick Barnes following his death due to complications of an auto-immune disease. It is not required that nurses have cared for someone with an immune system disease to be eligible for the DAISY award.

"Lori is an excellent nurse and we are glad to have her on our nursing team," said Linda Robinson, BSN, clinical director of the OB Clinic.