Costanzo honored as DAISY Award winner at AdventHealth Hendersonville

Shawn Costanzo, RN, OCN, has been named as the DAISY Award winner by AdventHealth Hendersonville. 

Costanzo is a triage nurse for the AdventHealth Cancer Services. Her clinical skill and dedication to compassionate patient care are consistently noticed by co-workers and the patients that she cares for every day, officials said. 

“Shawn daily encounters the varying physical and emotional needs of our cancer patients," according to the letter nominating her for the award. "Often, we have patients share their personal frustrations that are not always within the boundaries of just chemotherapy treatments or side effects.

"No matter what the problem, Shawn always goes above and beyond for each patient she encounters. She doesn’t give up until she finds a solution, or all avenues have been exhausted.

For example, one of our terminal patients wanted to take a last trip to New York to visit family but was unable to fly due to the oxygen risks. The drive would take three days, requiring the patient to take large oxygen tanks in the vehicle and coordinate with different oxygen suppliers to refill along the way and during her visit. The patient’s insurance would not cover a small, portable oxygen concentrator which would be so much simpler.

"Shawn spent several days personally reaching out to several charitable resources until she found a certified and inspected portable oxygen concentrator for her patient, which she went and picked up. To say that the patient was amazed and grateful is an understatement!”

AdventHealth partners with The DAISY Foundation to honor nurses like Costanzo who go above and beyond their daily tasks to make extraordinary differences in the lives of our patients and their families.

The award was created by the family of J. Patrick Barnes to thank the nurses who cared for Barnes and for them as he battled an autoimmune disease.

Barnes lost his battle, but his family realized the impact his nurses had on the final days of his life. For that they are forever grateful. They wanted to create an opportunity for all families who experience the benefits of the extraordinary care of nurses to show their appreciation.

The AdventHealth Nursing Administration presented Costanzo with a gift package that included: 

• DAISY Award certificate.

• DAISY Award pin.

• “A Healer’s Touch” sculpture.