Each year we honor our nurses during National Nurses Week, which is celebrated beginning May 6 and ends May 12 on Florence Nightingale’s birthday. May 8 is designated National Student Nurses Day.
In addition, this year, in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the American Nurses Association (ANA) announced on its website that National Nurses Week is now a month-long celebration (May 2021) to expand opportunities to celebrate these heroes of healthcare. The ANA and the World Health Organization also announced on their official sites that they have extended the Year of the Nurse into 2021.
Without a doubt, nurses have our gratitude as we depend on their skills, care, dedication, passion, selflessness, and compassion. We collectively witnessed this first-hand as nurses worked tirelessly on the front lines during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic all last year. They worked long days and nights on shifts in the ICU, donning personal protective equipment (if it was available) for hours on end, attending to patients and comforting loved ones who were unable to visit with family members in person by helping them set up FaceTime connections. Others made home-made masks when they became scarce and difficult to obtain. Many nurses were isolated from their own families while they took care of COVID-19 patients.
Home health nurses also made a difference in the fight against COVID-19, visiting patients every day to take care of their needs with the goal of avoiding non-emergent hospital encounters and readmissions. As more people recovered from COVID-19 and were discharged from the hospital, it was home health nurses who were making frequent assessments and providing a variety of therapies for their deconditioned states.
The pandemic has taken a toll on nurses’ morale and mental health, and it is this celebration that provides us with an opportunity to, once again, say “thank you” loud and clear.
Some companies have given away freebies during Nurses Week. For example, Amazon provided free books on specific nursing topics to Kindle owners. Dunkin’ Donuts on May 6 offered nurses a free medium hot or ice coffee (no purchase necessary). Brooklyn Bedding offered a 25% discount on bedding for all medical providers. Crocs gave nurses free shoes (10,000 free shoes a day).
Manchester Specialty Programs honors all our nurses throughout the country as well as those working diligently to become the next generation of nurses. We provide agents and brokers with the ability to offer a totally integrated business insurance solution around the specific needs of Home Care, Allied Health and Human/Social Services organizations fundamental to communities. Our partner insurance carriers and agents/brokers offer coverage tailored to the needs of the current and emerging care delivery environment. For more information about our products, please contact us at 855.972.9399.