{"id":433854,"date":"2026-05-09T20:12:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T20:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/433854\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T20:12:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T20:12:11","slug":"colorado-nursing-director-wins-award-highlighting-importance-of-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/433854\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado nursing director wins award highlighting importance of leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"

LONE TREE, Colo. \u2014 Lindsay Mallon, nursing director of perioperative services at HCA HealthONE Sky Ridge, was recently recognized with the DAISY Award for leader of the Year.<\/p>\n

Mallon oversees the departments that support the operating room, from pre-admission testing through recovery, and works with surgeons, their offices and nursing staff on surgical cases.<\/p>\n

\u201cHealthcare is a huge team sport and, specifically in surgery, it operates very similarly to a sports team, and that\u2019s always been a good area for me to lead into,\u201d Mallon said.<\/p>\n

\"Lindsay<\/p>\n

Denver7’s Ethan Carlson<\/p>\n

Nursing director Lindsay Mallon was credited for her ability to listen to her nursing staff and lead with a calming presence.<\/p>\n

Kristen Fiddes, chief nursing officer at HCA HealthONE Sky Ridge, said Mallon\u2019s approach to leadership sets the tone for the entire department.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis department obviously loves working for her. They love coming to work for her every single day,\u201d Fiddes said. \u201cShe listens, I think, is No. 1. Her nurses know they can come to her for anything, and she\u2019s going to listen to them, and she\u2019s going to do what she can to reduce any barriers to her work.\u201d<\/p>\n

That quality matters in a job that can be stressful. Mallon said maintaining a calm presence is a priority.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have had great mentors in the nursing world\u2026 that have really taught me how to lead and think clearly and be calm and meet the staff where they are and learn how to coach them,\u201d Mallon said. \u201cWhat I tell the nurses is, ‘We want you to come to work and be your best self, that you can be your best self outside of work.’\u201d<\/p>\n

The state of Colorado has also taken steps to address nursing workforce needs, with recent legislation that invests more money into nursing schools and streamlines nurse training programs.<\/p>\n

\"healers<\/p>\n

Denver7’s Ethan Carlson<\/p>\n

The award comes with a hand-carved statue from a Shona artist from Zimbabwe, representing the bond between nurses and their patients.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the difference between 2022 and now is we definitely are seeing more nurses graduate from nursing school and entering the profession, which is fantastic,\u201d Fiddes said.<\/p>\n

The DAISY Foundation was established in 1999 by the members of the family of Patrick Barnes, who died of complications of an auto-immune disease.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of the Super Bowl of nursing, is what we call it,\u201d Mallon said. \u201cI\u2019m just really honored to receive it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The recipient receives a sculpture called The Healer\u2019s Touch, representing the bond between nurses and their patients. The sculpture is hand-carved by a Shona artist from Zimbabwe, and work at the DAISY Foundation supports communities in that country.<\/p>\n

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.<\/p>\n

\"ethan<\/p>\n

Denver7 | Your Voice: Get in touch with Ethan Carlson<\/p>\n

Ethan Carlson is a multimedia journalist who focuses on stories that affect your wallet. You can check out his consumer reporting at Denver7\u2019s Smart Shopper. If you\u2019d like to get in touch with Ethan, fill out the form below to send him an email.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONE TREE, Colo. \u2014 Lindsay Mallon, nursing director of perioperative services at HCA HealthONE Sky Ridge, was recently…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":433855,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[203453,203450,203451,163,521,85,46,203452,203454,203455,203456,203457,203458],"class_list":["post-433854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-colorado-nurses","tag-daisy-award","tag-hca-healthone-sky-ridge","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-lindsay-mallon","tag-lone-tree-hospital","tag-nurse-of-the-year","tag-nursing-leadership","tag-nursing-shortage","tag-perioperative-services"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=433854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/433855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}