Pomerene honors Renee Conkle for helping save a life

Renee Conkle’s quick response during a cardiac arrest at Kinetics became the kind of moment families in Holmes County hope never to need, but deeply depend on when they do. Pomerene Hospital named the Millersburg nurse its 2026 DAISY Award winner after Conkle’s actions helped save Tim Burgett on Wednesday, May 6.

The award carries meaning well beyond one nurse’s career. At Pomerene, the DAISY honor usually begins with a letter from a community member thanking a specific nurse, and this year’s nomination reflected a life-or-death emergency that resonated far outside the hospital walls. For residents who rely on Pomerene for urgent care, the recognition offered a public reminder that skill, calm judgment and fast action are part of the hospital’s day-to-day promise.

Pomerene Hospital, based in Millersburg, serves Holmes County with cardiology, maternity, emergency care and other specialties. That makes Conkle’s recognition especially local in its impact: it shows how care delivered in a county hospital can matter in the most serious moments, when minutes count and help has to come from nearby. The hospital’s patient- and family-centered approach, along with its open visitation policy that welcomes family and loved ones 24 hours a day, reinforces a culture built around trust, access and relationships.

The 2026 honor also fits into a larger pattern at Pomerene. The hospital has continued to use DAISY Awards to highlight nursing care in recent years, recognizing Alysia Hershberger and Charles Wilbur in 2025, Maria Burgett and Lori Zimmerman in 2023, and Kristi Schrock and Natalie Kolp in 2021. That steady thread suggests the award is more than a one-time gesture. It is part of how the hospital publicly values the bedside work that shapes whether patients feel confident returning when they need help.

The DAISY Award itself began as a family tribute, created by the Barnes family in memory of J. Patrick Barnes after his death in 1999. It started at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance at the University of Washington Medical Center and has since spread to more than 6,200 healthcare facilities and nursing schools worldwide. The DAISY Foundation says more than 2.5 million nominations have been written, placing Conkle’s recognition in a national tradition of gratitude that still begins, in Holmes County, with one nurse and one emergency that changed everything.