Spring 2025 DAISY Award®

Cali Olshefski, a 2025 graduate of the registered nursing program at Kankakee Community College, has been awarded the DAISY Award® for Extraordinary Nursing Students.

The annual award is part of the DAISY Foundation’s mission to express gratitude to nurses with programs that recognize them for the extraordinary, compassionate and skillful care they provide patients and families.

Olshefski, a Manteno resident, was chosen by a committee at KCC, and the award was presented on May 16 at the registered nursing pinning ceremony. Olshefski received a certificate, a DAISY Award pin and a sculpture called A Healer’s Touch, hand-carved by artists of the Shona Tribe in Zimbabwe.

She was nominated after caring for a patient who had complications after having a stroke.

“Cali took the time to give the patient some extra TLC,” said her clinical instructor, Pat Bukowski, in the nomination. “Cali not only provided nursing care to her patient, but she also took time to holistically meet her patient’s emotional needs. She saw past the stroke patient and saw the woman who was no longer able to provide care for herself and make herself feel pretty.

“Cali’s actions were a symbolic reflection of the famous quote by Maya Angelou: ‘As a nurse, we can heal the mind, soul, heart, and body of our patients. They may forget your name, but they will never forget how you made them feel.’”

In the nomination, Bukowski also noted that the patient’s husband “repeatedly commented on how impressed he was with (Olshefski’s) professionalism and caring nature. He stated that Cali was very patient with his wife and was going to be a great nurse!”

Olshefski has accepted a position at Riverside Medical Center to be a labor and delivery nurse.

KCC’s two-year registered nursing program has a competitive entry process, and accepts new students each fall and spring semester. It incorporates classroom lectures, clinical experiences and lab demonstrations. The program is designed to prepare students for work in hospital departments, as well as in long-term care, home care, business and industry, outpatient clinics, public agencies, and physicians’ offices.

For information about entry requirements, consult with a KCC advisor or contact the program director, Jennifer Rogers at jrogers@kcc.edu or phone 815-802-8828.

About The DAISY Foundation

The DAISY Foundation is a not-for-profit organization, established in memory of J. Patrick Barnes, by members of his family. 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. (DAISY is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System.) The care Patrick and his family received from Nurses while he was ill inspired the creation of the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses, an evidenced-based means of providing nurse recognition and thanking nurses for making a profound difference in the lives of their patients and patient families.

More information is available at DAISYfoundation.org.