Bridgton Hospital honors awardee

BRIDGTON — What is the Daisy Award at Bridgton Hospital? The Daisy Award honorees personify Bridgton Hospital’s remarkable patient experience. Daisy Award nurses consistently demonstrate excellence through their clinical expertise and extraordinary compassionate care, and they are recognized as outstanding role models in the nursing community.

Bridgton Hospital presented its most recent Daisy Award to Sally Dunning RN. Sally was nominated by her peers, as well as many others within the organization, for this special recognition. Having gone through her own personal grief and loss, she is always there for others. Ms. Dunning was nominated for her recent fulfillment of a dying patient’s ultimate wish to marry his fiancée.

The task rested with this charge nurse on a weekend, when she took on the additional role of "wedding planner," coordinating with people both within and outside the organization to make the event a reality. Accomplishment of this daunting task, on a Sunday, was not a deterrent to Ms. Dunning. She managed to have the Town of Bridgton open their office for the necessary paperwork and brought in an Officiate to perform the wedding ceremony.

She offered her own beloved wedding bands, always worn around her neck on a chain, for the couple. This was an amazing "gift from the heart" – changing the lives of a family.

Ms. Dunning, as a Daisy Award Honoree, was presented a bouquet of daisies, a Daisy certificate, a Daisy Award pin, and a hand-carved stone sculpture entitled A Healer’s Touch. Additionally, everyone in attendance celebrated with specially made cinnamon rolls. Ms. Dunning will also have a dedicated parking spot for the next three months on the hospital campus.

Photo:

AWARD — Sally Dunning RN, center, was presented The Daisy Award, in recognition of nursing excellence at Bridgton Hospital. From left are Karen Harding RN, Nancy Murphy RN, Bridgton Hospital President David Frum, Jill Rollins RN, Dunning, John Ludwig RN and Donna Goodridge RN.