HCA Healthcare/HealthONE’s Swedish Medical Center Honors Nurses with

DAISY Awards

Jean Gasteratos, Jessalynn Fiest, Wanda Zwiegelaar recognized for providing extraordinary
nursing care.

Englewood, CO, March 16, 2019 --(PR.com)-- Nurses at HCA Healthcare/HealthONE's Swedish
Medical Center are being honored with the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses. The award is part of
the DAISY Foundation's program to recognize the compassionate efforts nurses perform every day.
Swedish Medical Center nurses Jean Gasteratos, RN, Jessalynn Fiest, RN, and Wanda Zwiegelaar, RN
have all been recognized for this prestigious award.

Jean Gasteratos, RN, a dedicated nurse in the neuro critical care unit at Swedish was nominated by the
family member of a patient. “Jean's nursing care was superb. But much more that that she cared for my
sister as if she were someone in her own family. She considered her dignity and modesty. Each time she
worked with her Jean talked to my sister and explained what she was doing. She answered all of my
questions and explained what she was doing and why.”

Wanda Zwiegelaar, RN, a dedicated nurse in the pediatric intensive care unit at Swedish was nominated
by the mother of a young patient. “Wanda would come in and try to spread sunshine. My daughter and I
were there for 4 days and 3 nights. She made sure and called the therapy dogs and got them to come to
our room because my daughter was very bored. She also found a nail polish kit and told my daughter that
she was going to have a spa day. She made us feel very welcome and attended to. She also hugged me as
I started to cry when we heard that my daughter didn't have any seizures on our last day. It was very nice
to have that support from her in such an emotional time.”

Jessalyn Feist, RN, a dedicated nurse in the burn critical care unit at Swedish received a heartfelt
nomination from a colleague for her compassionate creativity. “As ICU nurses we are constantly thinking
about all the tasks and interventions that need to be done to save our patients' lives. Meanwhile, we can
easily miss what may actually feel more pressing and important to the patients; i.e. washing their hair,
brushing their teeth, or just getting cleaned up. Jessie is not only an excellent and intelligent critical care
nurse but she does a wonderful job making her patients look/feel their best. For months Jessie insisted
that our director add hair washing basins to the list of supplies in the stock room. She now uses these to
shampoo/condition long hair and then braids it to the patients' liking (while finding their favorite Pandora
station to play in the background). Jessie even took it upon herself to go out and buy a set of electric hair
clippers so she could use her creativity to provide “barber style” haircuts to the patients on the burn unit.”

“To be recognized with the DAISY award is truly incredible,” said Ryan Thornton, chief nursing officer
at Swedish Medical Center. “Each of these nurses demonstrates compassionate care every day and I am
so proud to celebrate their hard work.”

Nurses may be nominated by patients, families, and colleagues, and they are chosen by a committee of
nurses at Swedish Medical Center to receive The DAISY Award. Awards are given quarterly at

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presentations in front of the nurse's colleagues, physicians, patients, and visitors. Each Honoree receives a
certificate commending her or him for being an "Extraordinary Nurse." The certificate 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." The honoree will also be given a beautiful and meaningful sculpture called A Healer's
Touch, hand-carved by artists of the Shona Tribe in Africa.

Additionally, DAISY offers J. Patrick Barnes Grants for Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice
Projects, The DAISY Faculty Award to honor inspiring faculty members in schools and colleges of
nursing, and The DAISY in Training Award for nursing students. More information is available at
http://DAISYfoundation.org.

About Swedish

Swedish Medical Center, part of HCA Healthcares's HealthONE, is located in the south metro Denver
area where it has been a proud member of the community for more than 110 years. An acute care hospital
with 408 licensed beds, annually Swedish cares for more than 200,000 patients with a team of
approximately 2,000 dedicated employees, 300 volunteers and 1,400 physicians.

With stroke door to treatment times averaging just 20 minutes, Swedish serves as the Rocky Mountain
Region's referral center for the most advanced stroke treatment, and was the state's first Joint Commission
certified Comprehensive Stroke Center. Swedish also serves as the region's neurotrauma and orthopedic
trauma provider and is the south Denver metro area's only level I trauma facility with a dedicated burn
and reconstructive center. Over 150 facilities regularly transfer highly complex cases to Swedish.

Swedish Medical Center offers patients the highest quality care and the most advanced technologies and
treatments in nearly every medical specialty including adult and pediatric emergency, heart care,
neurology/neurosurgery, pregnancy and childbirth, orthopedics and joint replacement, cancer care,
gastroenterology and liver care, gynecology and urology. Additional information about the hospital is
available at www.SwedishHospital.com.

About The DAISY Foundation

The DAISY Foundation was created in 1999 by the family of J. Patrick Barnes who died at age 33 of
complications of an auto-immune disease (hence the name, an acronym for Diseases Attacking the
Immune System.) Patrick received extraordinary care from his nurses, and his family felt compelled to
express their profound gratitude for the compassion and skill nurses bring to patients and families every
day. The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses celebrates nurses in over 2,600 healthcare facilities
around the world. For more information about The DAISY Award and the Foundation's other recognition
of nurses, faculty and students, visit www.DAISYfoundation.org.

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Contact Information:
Swedish Medical Center
Kara Hamersky
(303) 817-5708
Contact via Email
www.swedishhospital.com

Online Version of Press Release:

You can read the online version of this press release at: https://www.pr.com/press-release/780011

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