Malone, NY (9/17/2024) – Creating and nurturing an environment that makes residents feel at-home isn’t straightforward or easy, but that’s the task in front of Landon Gosselin and his colleagues at The Alice Center’s Skilled Nursing Facility every day.

With Landon, a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN), as part of the SNF’s care team, that all-important task is a little bit easier. The traveling LPN’s positive, sunny nature, his professional and interpersonal flexibility, and his willingness to assist residents and co-workers no matter what they need, are what make him Alice Hyde’s newest DAISY Award winner.

“Landon makes a difference every day he walks into The Alice Center,” said Keirstan Daggett, the SNF’s staffing secretary. “Going above and beyond to help your co-workers and our residents is what the DAISY Award is all about – and that’s just what Landon does.”

Having now served on the SNF’s care team intermittently for about two years, Landon’s compassion, professionalism and sense of humor have endeared him to co-workers and residents. Daggett recalls one morning earlier this year when he began passing out packets of M&Ms with his face etched on the candies, giving co-worker’s a much-needed chuckle.

On another day, Landon jumped into taking over care of a resident who was struggling with mobility after returning from a trip outside the facility – something Daggett said most LPNs shy away from doing, because it involves providing care and services that usually fall to members of the team with less advanced clinical qualifications, such as certified nurse aides.

“He’s just always there and always lending a hand, no matter what the job is,” said Daggett. “He’s always in a good mood, and he goes wherever we need him to go. It’s made a huge difference.”

How to Nominate a Nurse

Alice Hyde launched the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses in 2022 as a way to recognize and reward licensed nurses for making a meaningful difference in the lives of their patients. Nomination forms are located in each of the hospital’s clinical offices and on the Alice Hyde website. Nurses may be nominated by patients, families and colleagues. A committee reviews nominations and one DAISY Award is given quarterly to a deserving nurse.

The Award of part of the DAISY Foundation’s mission to recognize the extraordinary, compassionate care licensed nurses provide to patients and families each day. The DAISY Foundation is a national, not-for-profit organization established in memory of J. Patrick Barnes by members of his family. Patrick died in 1999, at the age of 33, from complications of idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) – a little-known but not uncommon auto-immune disease. DAISY is an acronym for “Diseases Attacking the Immune System. The care Patrick and his family received from nurses while he was ill inspired this unique means of thanking nurses for making a profound difference in the lives of their patients and patients’ families. More information is available on the DAISY Foundation website.