MCHC nurses in Austin and Owatonna receive DAISY Award

Three Mayo Clinic Health System nurses in Austin and Owatonna received the DAISY Award, an international recognition that honors and celebrates the skillful and compassionate care nurses provide.

Alexa Jacobson
Tabitha Erlandson
Mandy Langer

To receive the DAISY Award, nurses who provide extraordinary care are nominated by patients, patient families or colleagues. For nurses working at locations across Mayo Clinic Health System in Southeast Minnesota, a selection committee reviews nominations and selects DAISY Award winners quarterly.

The two nurses who received the DAISY Award are:

  • Alexa Jacobson
    Jacobson is a registered nurse in the Intensive Care Unit at Mayo Clinic Health System in Austin, Minnesota. She was nominated by a patient’s son who remembered how Jacobson provided compassionate care during his mother’s admission to the hospital and her eventual passing.
  • Mandy Langer
    Langer is a registered nurse for Medical Specialty services at Mayo Clinic Health System in Owatonna, Minnesota. She was nominated for the DAISY Award by a colleague who recognized Langer’s flexibility, providing care in multiple departments during the COVID-19 pandemic, and her willingness to weather severe winter storms to provide patient care.
  • Tabatha Erlandson

Erlandson is a registered nurse in the Family Birth Center at Mayo Clinic Health System in Austin. Erlandson was nominated by a patient who remembered how attentive and understanding Erlandson was during a pregnancy complicated by COVID-19.

All three nurses were presented the DAISY Award by Cheristi Cognetta-Rieke, D.N.P., chief nursing officer for Mayo Clinic Health System in Southeast Minnesota, at surprise presentations.

The DAISY Award was created in honor of J. Patrick Barnes who died at age 33 of complications of idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura. The nursing care he received when hospitalized profoundly touched his family. Learn more about the history of the DAISY Award.