Cherokee Regional Medical Center (Cherokee Regional) is pleased to announce that Taylor Richardson 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 efforts nurses perform every day.
According to her nominator, “Of all the nurses I have met in my life, she would be the one I’d pick to work with if I had a choice.”
Richardson’s tenure with Cherokee Regional started as a teenager when she worked as a lifeguard at the Cherokee Fitness Center as well as completed a work-based learning program at Cherokee Regional while in high school. After graduation from Washington High School in Cherokee, she attended Western Iowa Tech Community College and received her RN degree before returning to Cherokee Regional in 2022. The daughter of Chris and Wendy Richardson from Cherokee, Taylor is the 7th Daisy Award Recipient for Cherokee Regional.
The not-for-profit DAISY Foundation 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 (ITP), 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.
Said Bonnie Barnes, FAAN, Doctor of Humane Letters (h.c) and Co-Founder of The DAISY Foundation, “When Patrick was critically ill, our family experienced first-hand the remarkable skill and care nurses provide patients every day and night. Yet these unsung heroes are seldom recognized for the super-human work they do. The kind of work the nurses at Cherokee Regional are called on to do every day epitomizes the purpose of The DAISY Award.”
“We are so proud of the caring, compassionate care our nurses provide here at Cherokee Regional,” says Angela Friedrich, Vice President of Clinical Services/CNO at Cherokee Regional. “The committee had a tough decision to make but Taylor’s nomination really shined through.”
For a complete listing of healthcare organizations currently running the program, please go to http://DAISYfoundation.org .

In addition to the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses, the Foundation expresses gratitude to
the nursing profession internationally in over 5,500 healthcare facilities and schools of nursing with
recognition of Nurse-led Teams, Nurse Leaders, Nurses Advancing Health Equity, Nursing Faculty, Nursing Students, Lifetime Achievement in Nursing and through the J. Patrick Barnes Grants for Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice Projects, Medical Mission Grants and their new
Health Equity Grant programs. More information is available at http://DAISYfoundation.org.