International Nurses Day: Why this year is so significant
The day is observed on Florence Nightingale’s birthday each year as a way to commemorate the expertise, the dedication and warmth of these health care workers. Nightingale, who is viewed as the pioneer of modern nursing was born 200 years ago today.
Nurses: The essential workers on the front line
The World Health Organisation’s theme for this year’s celebration is: “Nursing the world back to health” which is an appropriate theme considering the current state of affairs. Nurses make up more than half of the world’s health care workers and their contribution to society is often overlooked.
The pandemic brings to light once again, the role that nurses play from often being first on the scene and assisting with the patient, to caring for, treating and seeing through the process of the patient recovering.
These essential workers have left their families, including their children, elderly parents and are away from home to be at the place everyone is trying to avoid — hospitals. Nurses have taken to social media to ask citizens to stay at home and flatten the curve as a way of assisting them during this unprecedented time.
These men and women have braved the outside world during a pandemic. The question remains, “Who takes care of the essential workers?”
With many workers believing that they should get paid more for their service and for those who have sacrificed their lives to provide a service to the community, it is definitely a difficult time to be an essential worker, and today’s acknowlegement of these superheroes could not have come at a more crucial time.
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