Nurses are on the frontline caring for us

Published 3:30 pm Friday, May 15, 2020

We celebrated National Nurses Week this past week, and it could not come at a more apt time for saluting the frontline healthcare workers in our community. They are not only at work in our hospitals, but nursing homes, doctors’ offices, medical clinics, health departments, and in home health.

Also, nursing students, who are graduating this month without the normal hoopla of commencement ceremonies, also deserve recognition and thanks.

Nursing is a profession that has been growing and qualified nurses are in great demand as our country’s population ages. We need all the nurses we can get and we appreciate everyone who is answering this calling.

America has been celebrating nurses as people and as a profession for decades.The origin of National Nurses Week — a celebration of the work and commitment of nurses — dates back to 1954 when it was observed for the first time from Oct. 11 through Oct. 16, in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s mission to Crimea.

Today, National Nurses Week is observed each year in May, starting on May 6 and running through May 12, which is the birthday of Nightingale, the British social reformer and statistician who is commonly considered the founder of modern nursing.

Like so many other “national week of” events, Nurses Week has, over the years, tended to garner attention mostly from individuals who either work as nurses or have a close friend or relative serving in what is often viewed as an undervalued profession.

While the circumstances are regrettable, 2020 has been a year in which Americans across all states are reminded of the importance of nurses and their role in modern health care and society. COVID-19 endangered lives and changed many aspects of life as we have known it.

It also opened our eyes and our hearts to the valor displayed by individuals who work in health care in general, nurses included.

Through the first quarter of this year, nurses across the country continued to go to work each day inside hospitals and health care facilities where many of them were called upon to attend to the needs of COVID-19 patients directly. Many thousands of retired nurses came back into the profession to lend a hand. More recent graduates with nursing degrees joined the ranks at a time when the stakes were extremely high.

All nurses across America did their jobs at great personal risk while also having to deal with the emotional pain of letting go of patients who succumbed to this dreaded disease, and the mental toll of possibly bringing it home to their own family members.

But, we can at least try. We can and should recognize the work of nurses each and every day.

In 2020, as our community and our nation continue to deal with the impacts of COVID-19, it is especially important to show nurses just how much they are appreciated.

These brave men and women have always shown courage in the face of adversity. This year, while dealing with the public health crisis of our time, they have truly distinguished themselves. If you know a nurse, make sure to say “Thank You” to them.