DAISY Award Celebrates Albany Nurse Leader’s Compassionate Leadership June 4, 2025 Samaritan Albany General Hospital has partnered with The DAISY Foundation to recognize extraordinary nurses for the compassionate care they provide to patients and families every day. DAISY is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System. Trisha Estes, RN, director of Ambulatory Infusion, was surprised and honored to receive the Nurse Leader DAISY Award. She began her career as a phlebotomist, later becoming a medical assistant. Before joining the Ambulatory Infusion department, Estes worked in inpatient oncology and IV therapy at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center. With 17 years of service at Samaritan, she brings deep experience and compassion to every role she takes on. She was nominated by a colleague who admired her leadership, dedication and grace. The nominator stated: “I cannot think of a Samaritan leader who exemplifies PRIDE better than Trisha. Every day she goes above and beyond, putting our patients, her staff and Samaritan before herself. Her integrity shows every time she steps up to take on another task, fill a gap or identify a way to make care safer for infusion patients. While I could nominate Trisha for an entire list of things, I wanted to call out the phenomenal work she did to make the Good Sam Ambulatory Infusion conversion to a department of SAGH successful. Every nursing workflow was considered; she kept open lines of communication with pharmacy and intake; and when the switch was flipped, she was on the ground coordinating the correct treatment location for patients, covering lunch breaks and keeping pharmacy in the loop as we managed the medication supply. I personally could not have survived the process without Trisha’s help! And through all the challenges thrown at her, she maintains a professionalism and grace that represents what we all strive for here at Samaritan.” Estes’s supervisor, Jen Broadus, describes her as a leader who leads with integrity and a genuine desire to help her teams succeed. “Trisha is an amazing, seasoned leader who inspires and empowers those around her,” Broadus said. “She has an ability to communicate a clear vision while fostering collaboration that creates an environment where her staff feel valued and motivated. In her role as director over all three valley sites, Trisha consistently goes above and beyond to support, mentor and challenge her teams to grow, making a lasting impact on both their work and personal development. She has had several Shining Star submissions this year, both from staff and patients. She has a passion for patient care, quality and exemplary patient satisfaction. She is a steward of the Samaritan system, one who leads with honesty and fairness and is driving force behind the SAGH leadership team’s success.” A ceremony was held to honor Estes and the PRIDE — passion, respect, integrity, dedication and excellence — she shows in her work. At the ceremony, Estes was celebrated by her colleagues. She was presented with a certificate, nurse leader DAISY pin and a beautiful Healer’s Touch statue created by an artist in Zimbabwe, which symbolizes the relationship between nurses, patients and families. Along with the public recognition, DAISY award winners receive financial discounts for nursing certification training, reduced tuition for continued education, conference scholarship opportunities and are eligible for the national DAISY Award. The DAISY Award was established by the family of J. Patrick Barnes to “honor the super-human work nurses do for patients and families every day wherever they practice, in whatever role they serve and throughout their careers, from student through a lifetime of achievement.” To learn more, visit DAISYfoundation.org. To nominate an extraordinary Samaritan nurse, go to samhealth.org/DAISY.
