{"id":68932,"date":"2026-02-23T15:55:38","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T23:55:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/?p=68932"},"modified":"2026-02-23T15:55:41","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T23:55:41","slug":"albany-emergency-department-nurse-erika-lentz-earns-daisy-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/news\/albany-emergency-department-nurse-erika-lentz-earns-daisy-award\/","title":{"rendered":"Albany Emergency Department Nurse Erika Lentz Earns DAISY Award"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article\">\n\t<header class=\"header\">\n\t\t<span class=\"type\"><\/span>\t\t<h1>Albany Emergency Department Nurse Erika Lentz Earns DAISY Award<\/h1>\t\t<time>February 23, 2026<\/time>\n\t<\/header>\n\t<div id=\"block_049a976ae138737fe54510c1fbccfc63\" class=\"shs-block block-news-article entry-content\">\n\t\t<div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"acf-innerblocks-container\">\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/find-a-location\/samaritan-albany-general-hospital\/\" data-type=\"location\" data-id=\"5308\">Samaritan Albany General Hospital<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Erika Lentz, RN, is the first Emergency Department nurse at Samaritan Albany General Hospital to receive the DAISY Award. Known for her calm presence and compassion, Lentz is a valued member of the ED team. She joined Samaritan in 2024, bringing extensive experience from hospitals across Oregon. Her colleagues describe her as genuine, deeply dedicated and grounded in the values of nursing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Honoring the Work Behind the Award<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>She was nominated by fellow staff members who recognized her for the humanity and kindness she brings to highly emotional situations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The nominators stated:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>\u201cPediatric emergencies are among the most difficult moments our team faces, and Erika consistently brings compassion, calm and humanity to even the hardest situations. Recently, Erika learned that a young patient\u2019s sibling was spending a birthday in the hospital shortly after a profound family loss. Wanting to bring comfort during an unimaginably difficult time, Erika used her break and her own money to purchase a small birthday gift, ensuring the child felt cared for on that day. She then gathered team members to sing happy birthday.<br><br>\u201cEven while carrying the emotional weight of caring for the family the night before, Erika chose kindness. Her compassion in that moment is just one example of the extraordinary care she shows to patients, families and colleagues.<br><br>\u201cErika continually goes above and beyond \u2014 lifting the spirits of her team, creating a sense of togetherness and bringing warmth and generosity to every shift. She truly embodies the values of nursing, and we are honored to recognize her as our DAISY Award recipient.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Lentz\u2019s supervisor, Kymberlin Wobig, says she brings a quiet strength to her work and consistently provides compassionate, meticulous care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cErika is one of those rare people you always hope to have on your team,\u201d Wobig said. \u201cShe is kind, genuine and is unwaveringly dedicated. Though she may believe she\u2019s simply coming to work to do her job, her humility is exactly what makes her so remarkable. Each day, her calm presence and thoughtful care make a profound difference for every patient she encounters. We are truly fortunate to have someone of Erika\u2019s caliber.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>A Moment Worth Celebrating<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A ceremony was held to honor Lentz and the PRIDE \u2014 passion, respect, integrity, dedication and excellence \u2014 she shows in her work. At the ceremony, Lentz l was celebrated by her colleagues, leaders and members of the ED team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignleft size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"360\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Erika-Lentz-DAISY-Award-CO.jpg\" alt=\"Erika Lentz stands in front of the DAISY Award cart smiling and holding her award.\" class=\"wp-image-68937\" style=\"width:388px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Erika-Lentz-DAISY-Award-CO.jpg 360w, https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Erika-Lentz-DAISY-Award-CO-300x250.jpg 300w, https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Erika-Lentz-DAISY-Award-CO-120x100.jpg 120w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 360px) 100vw, 360px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>She was presented with a certificate, DAISY pin and a beautiful Healer\u2019s Touch statue created by an artist in Zimbabwe, which symbolizes the relationship between nurses, patients and families. Along with 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Excellence in Nursing<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The DAISY Award was established by the family of J. Patrick Barnes to \u201chonor 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To learn more, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/daisyfoundation.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">DAISYfoundation.org<\/a>. To nominate an extraordinary Samaritan nurse, go to <a href=\"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/patient-visitors\/honor-a-samaritan-employee\/daisy-nursing-awards\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">samhealth.org\/DAISY<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<aside>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"360\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Erika-Lentz-Group-DAISY-Award-CO.jpg\" class=\"attachment-cta size-cta wp-post-image\" alt=\"Pictured from left: Kymberlin Wobig, Emergency Department and Sarah&#039;s Place manager; Erika Lentz, RN; Jennifer Davis-Emmert, vice president of Patient Care Services.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Erika-Lentz-Group-DAISY-Award-CO.jpg 360w, https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Erika-Lentz-Group-DAISY-Award-CO-300x250.jpg 300w, https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Erika-Lentz-Group-DAISY-Award-CO-120x100.jpg 120w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 360px) 100vw, 360px\" \/><\/figure><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"360\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/DAISY-Award-Logo-CO.jpg\" class=\"attachment-cta size-cta\" alt=\"DAISY award logo.\" \/><\/figure>\t\t<\/aside>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Samaritan Albany General Hospital awards Erika Lentz, RN, with a DAISY Award for compassionate care she brings to the Emergency Department.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":68936,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","_shs_workflow_notes":"Can you please update the date to today if it doesn't do it automatically? Thank you!","_shs_exclude_from_navigation":false,"_shs_promote_article_on_blogs":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"news-topics":[492],"news-types":[272],"services":[235],"specialty":[31],"class_list":["post-68932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","news-topics-employee","news-types-news","services-emergency-care","specialty-emergency-medicine"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68932"},{"taxonomy":"news-topics","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-topics?post=68932"},{"taxonomy":"news-types","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-types?post=68932"},{"taxonomy":"services","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/services?post=68932"},{"taxonomy":"specialty","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/specialty?post=68932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}