COVINGTON – The St. Tammany Health System Nursing Department is pleased to announce the first-quarter 2026 winners of its Daisy Award for Extraordinary Nursing and the Sunflower Award, for demonstrated support of the nursing mission.
This quarter’s Daisy winners are:
- Pamela Barabino RN (Mother Baby);
- Nila Dykes RN (St. Tammany Health System Surgery Center);
- and Kaitlyn Kusch RN (Pediatric Emergency Department).
This quarter’s Sunflower winners are:
- Certified Nursing Assistant Theresa James;
- and Mobility Tech Callie O’Bryant.
The Daisy Award, introduced at St. Tammany Health System in 2022, is part of an international recognition program honoring and celebrating the skillful, compassionate care provided by nurses. The Sunflower Award, an offshoot of the Daisy program, was introduced at STHS in 2023to recognize non-nursing colleagues for their contributions to the health system’s healing mission.
Anyone, colleague, patient or community member, can nominate someone by filling out a nomination form and dropping it in one of the nomination boxes placed around the health system. An electronic nomination form can additionally be found at StTammany.health/ThankYou.
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About St. Tammany Health System
The heartbeat of its community, St. Tammany Health System cares for patients and families with excellence, compassion and teamwork. It is recognized for quality, safety and service excellence by CareChex, Leapfrog, Healthgrades, Hospital Compare, Women’s Choice and US News & World Report. St. Tammany Parish Hospital Service District No. 1 and Ochsner Health work together in partnership to improve the community’s health and quality of life. Together, west St. Tammany’s top two independent health leaders represent the most complete system of care, aligning behind the common goals of improving access, expanding specialty care and making care affordable. Under their agreement, each retains its autonomy; neither manages nor owns the other. Self-supporting, not-for-profit STHS is A+ rated by Fitch and receives no tax funding. More at StTammany.health.