Ann O’Neill, a registered nurse specializing in neuroscience care, has received St. Mary’s systemwide DAISY Award for Nursing Excellence.

O’Neill was nominated by the family of a patient who was transferred to St. Mary’s at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The patient had suffered a severe head injury in a fall and required the higher level of care that St. Mary’s could provide. The family was exhausted, frustrated, anxious, stressed, and needed answers.

“I didn’t have high expectations about anyone addressing my concerns,” the nominator writes. “But when nurse Ann walked into my [family member’s] room, I felt better. She listened to me. She listened to me not even knowing all the trauma we have experienced.

“Nurse Ann is a straight-shooter. She didn’t pass the buck. I appreciate her honesty. I also appreciate her experience and expertise in nursing. Nurse Ann has real life experience. She gets it,” the nominator states.

O’Neill brings more than 36 years of nursing experience to the bedside, 17 of those years with St. Mary’s. In her work on St. Mary’s Neuroscience Unit, she provides care to patients with a wide range of conditions affecting the nervous system, including traumatic brain injury, stroke, epilepsy and recovery from brain and spine surgery.

“Ann is an exemplary nurse and a wonderful person,” said her manager, Michael Shaw. “Like her nomination says, she is a straight-shooter, but she’s also extremely compassionate and has a great ability to communicate. She not only hears, she listens, and she responds in a way that lets patients and family know she really cares.”

“Receiving the DAISY Award is something that a nurse can take with them for their entire career,” said St. Mary’s DAISY Award coordinator and director of orthopedics, Ann Gomes. “It’s special for every nurse who receives it. We are proud of all our nurses, but especially proud of Ann and all of our DAISY Award recipients.”

O’Neill lives in Lawrenceville. She has two daughters, Catherine and Colleen Oneill, future son-in-law Tim Dahlgren (Colleen’s fiancé), and two cats, Peach and Tomato.