Nurses account for more than half of all the world’s health workers, providing vital services throughout the health system. Around the world they are demonstrating their compassion, bravery and courage as they respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, and never before has their value been more clearly demonstrated. In honor of the 200th birthday of Florence Nightingale, 2020 was declared the “Year of the Nurse and Midwife” by the World Health Organization (WHO) and International Council of Nurses . The American Nurses Association expanded National Nurses Week, traditionally celebrated from May 6 to May 12 each year, to National Nurses month “to expand opportunities to elevate and celebrate nursing,” a time to reflect and celebrate the role and accomplishments of nurses worldwide.
May 2020 will now and in the future be remembered in a far different way. It will be the time the world was in a kind of war, a pandemic that will claim tens of thousands or more lives in the United States. This war is stretching our healthcare system to the breaking point and beyond. It is fitting that in this month, the contributions of nurses and healthcare workers are at the forefront of the minds and hearts of a grateful nation like never before.
SDAHO wants to take this time to thank the nurses across our great state!
