Nurse’s Week is a week dedicated to the millions of nurses around the world. The week is celebrated every year May 6 through May 12. Nurses constantly help people and put in long and hard hours. From shots to hours of paperwork, nurses do it all. Nurse Week raises awareness for the tireless commitment of nurses 365 days a year.. You can thank a nurse and celebrate their careers during this week.

The history of Nurse’s Week dates all the way back to 1953. That was when Dorothy Sutherland of the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare sent a proposal to President Eisenhower to proclaim a “Nurse’s Day” in October of the following year. The proclamation was never made, but that wasn’t the end of it.

The following year, “National Nurse Week” was celebrated from October 11–16. That year marked the 100th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s, she and a team of nurses improved the unsanitary conditions at a British base hospital, reducing the death count by two-third, mission to Crimea.

Representative Frances P. Bolton sponsored the bill for a nurse week. The bill for a “National Nurse Week” was introduced in the 1955 Congress, but no action was taken. Congress discontinued its practice of joint resolutions for national weeks of various kinds.

Many tries after that rejection, it finally resulted in getting an International Nurse Day and a Nurse Week. Nurse Day was set on May 12, Florence Nightingale’s birthday, but the day was later moved. President Ronald Reagan signed a proclamation on March 25, proclaiming “National Recognition Day for Nurses” to be May 6, 1982. Nurse Week ends on May 12, Nightingale’s birthday.

Myrna Stanard, a registered nurse at LNE, wanted to be a nurse because she was good at science and she liked working in a human services field. Stanard enjoys being a nurse because working with adolescents is really fun for her. Even though she loves working with the kids, there are professional challenges that Stanard has to deal with, but she gets to use her nursing skills to get through them.

When asked what Stanard does for Nurse Week, she replied with, “I don’t celebrate myself. Our Health Tech buys us breakfast and shows her appreciation. Our supervisors recognize us and our career.”

Kathy Froscheiser, a treatment nurse at LNE, loves being a nurse and working with all the kids at LNE. Froscheiser always liked sciences and working with people.

Froscheiser said, “We celebrated Nurse Week at our last Lincoln Public Schools Nurses Meeting with snacks and door prizes.”

A licensed practical nurse from Deck Family Practice said, “I wanted to be a nurse because I had worked in a nursing home from the age of 16. I loved working with the elderly.”

The LPN also said that her nurse coworker bought her a dozen of orange roses to make Nurse Week special.

The ANA, American Nurses Association, had a National Nurses Week Webinar. The live meeting that took place over the web was an hour long information event. The event titled, “Culturally Congruent Care: Why Diversity Make a Difference”, covered how to understand the values you bring to your patient-nurse relationship.

Websites like HealthPromotionsNOW, NurseWorld and Zazzle are offering gifts for Nurse Week. Some gifts that are sold on the website are buttons, shirts, water bottles, and totes. All gifts have nurse logos on them.

Student Nurse Day is celebrated on May 8, right between the start and end of Nurse Week. A student nurse is a student in a program leading to certification in a form of nursing. The programs can be online or actually at a college. TCA, the Career Academy, offers a pathway dedicated to becoming a certified nurse assistant.

Medical Solutions, a company that provides travelling jobs to nurses in Omaha, celebrated nurses week early. A month ago, a celebration in Stinson Park occurred with dozens of nurses and their supporters. Miss Colorado, a nurse, attended the event along with 300 Medical Solutions employees. The employees formed the world’s largest formation of the letters RN surrounded by a heart to honor nurses everywhere.

Everyone has had a nurse help them at least once in their life, whether that be assisting their surgery or just drawing their blood. Nurses are dedicated to helping people, that is what their career means. Now is the time to help a nurse that has always helped you. You can buy a gift or just say a simple thank you. Make Nurse Week a very special week for the nurses in your life.