Saturday, May 10, 2008

Nurses Week is done!


By Wednesday afternoon, I'd already put in my 80 hours for the pay period. I was exhausted and happy! It was a successful Nurses Week. If you don't believe me, read Janet's opinion here.

Yeah, it wore me out but I truly didn't mind. I love Nurses Week because I love nurses. Of course, I may be a little biased - Jessie is a nurse and Kelly is working diligently on becoming one.

So you'll understand why I love nurses, read the following post I wrote on our nursing blog back in November of 2006. (Sorry, it's not accessible to the public or I would just link you to it.)

"I have worked with nurses for seventeen years. They are the best kind of co-workers to have, and this is why:
  • Nurses can fix anything – not just patients. Nurses have to be resourceful because they’re on the job 24/7, while most other departments close down over weekends and nights. Probably the maintenance guys hate it when they have to come behind and try to fix something the nurses already “fixed” (do I hear grumbling in the background?), but I think it’s great. Katie W. in the Dream Pool told me this weekend she’s building her second fence. I am so-o-o impressed.

  • Nurses appreciate every little thing you do for them. I used to run down to Dietary and pick up bedtime snacks for the diabetic patients on PCU. The nurses just thought I was wonderful. Last month, I made arrangements for everyone to attend the Spartanburg Magnet Hospital workshop. You’d think I had given each and every one of them diamond earrings for their birthdays. They were all so sweet and appreciative. I don’t even get that kind of appreciation at home.

  • Nurses are trustworthy. According to this year’s Gallup survey of 1,000 Americans, nurses were the professionals that were trusted most – even more than doctors and police officers! That’s saying something, I tell you.
There are other reasons I love working with nurses. They like food, I like food. They work hard and they know how to have fun. But mostly, I love working with nurses because they are among the most caring creatures in the world. Most of you know that my daughter is a NNICU nurse. How she does it I will never know. She didn’t get it from me. "

So it was my pleasure to bring you strawberry shortcake, Janet, because - yes! - you are marvelous. Next trip, maybe you can come along with us! (If you didn't read Janet's "opinion" at the link shown above, that last may appear to be a bit of a non sequitur to you...)

    4 comments:

    Kappa no He said...

    A little girl (now full grown woman!) I used to babysit when she was still in diapers just became a nurse. I went and visited her last time I was in the states and I teared up. She is just a superwoman now. Nurses rock.

    Katharine said...

    Who's the lady if the Picture? Florence Nightingale? If so, there is an interesting account of her work in the Crimean War in a little book The Reason Why by Cecil Woodham-Smith, published about 1960. I have been meaning to read her first book, Florence Nightingale, begun during World War II and published about 1952.

    Remember that Tennyson poem --

    "Theirs not to reason why
    Theirs but to do and die:
    Into the valley of Death
    Rode the six hundred."

    Could just as well be applied to nurses with a little alteration, huh?

    Theirs to reason why
    Theirs to do so others not die:
    Into the valley of Death
    Ride the six hundred.

    Or any other number you want to put there.

    Pat said...

    Isn't it amazing, KNH, to see someone you've cared for grow up to be a caregiver her/himself? Truly cool.

    Do you have the Cecil Woodham-Smith book, Kath?

    Katharine said...

    Si. Reading material for Hadrian's Wall? Ms. Woodham-Smith was an English lady.