Marcia Bryant, MSN, RN, NE-BC, vice president clinical operations and chief nursing officer of The Outer Banks Hospital, was recently honored with The DAISY Award® For Extraordinary Nurses. The award is part of the DAISY Foundation's programs to recognize the super-human work nurses perform every day.

Bryant received The Daisy Nurse Leader award for the initiative she led to establish The Outer Banks Hospital as the first dementia-friendly hospital in North Carolina on April 26, 2018. By fostering the relationship between the hospital and the Health Carolinians Dementia Task Force, Bryant developed a joint community and hospital team to support innovative changes that created the dementia-friendly designation. Through the partnership, the Outer Banks then became the first dementia-friendly community in the state. Out of that work, the “Purple Seahorse” symbol was created and has become an identifying seal for businesses that undergo dementia-friendly training. Since that time, Bryant has supported additional healthcare systems both nationally and internationally to foster dementia-friendly environments.

“One of the best things I’ve ever done in my career was to get Marcia Bryant on board here,” said Ronnie Sloan, FACHE, president The Outer Banks Hospital. We are so very fortunate to have Marcia as part of the leadership team and grateful for her innovative mind-set and tireless pursuit of excellence.”

The not-for-profit DAISY Foundation is based in Glen Ellen, California, and was established by family members in memory of J. Patrick Barnes.  Patrick died at the age of 33 in late 1999 from complications of idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, a little-known but not uncommon auto-immune disease.  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 patient families.

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The Outer Banks Hospital is a full service, community hospital offering a wide range of inpatient and outpatient services and is part of Vidant Health and Chesapeake Regional Healthcare.

In addition to The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses, the foundation expresses gratitude to the nursing profession internationally in more than 4,600 healthcare facilities and schools of nursing with recognition of direct care nurses, nurse-led teams, nurse leaders, nurses advancing health equity, nursing faculty, and nursing students through the Lifetime Achievement in Nursing and the J. Patrick Barnes grants for Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice Projects, Medical Mission Grants, and their new Health Equity Grant program. More information is available at http://DAISYfoundation.org.