These Nurses ROCK! Happy Nurses Day!

[Mermaid4]

Probably this isn't the place to put this BUT....

I make a point of remembering the nurses I work with on Nurses Day including from the facility I worked at prior to my current position.

I wasn't originally going to post the name of the facility but they are SO wonderful I just had to.....

Happy Nurses Day to EACH and EVERY one of YOU as well since of COURSE we ALL ROCK!

Morton Hospital and Medical Center's Maternal/Child Nurses ROCK!

May sixth is the day allotted for celebration of nurses annually.

Most people don't know that.

Some perhaps, don't even care.

Interestingly, this year May sixth is also "military spouse" day.

I am both. That is, a nurse AND a military spouse.

With regard to the magnificent nurses at Morton Hospital and Medical Center,

This note focuses on the "angels" on the maternity unit because not only were they co-workers, they were "my" nurses when I was a patient.

In fact, two of them saved my life.

If not for them, I may not have had the opportunity to enjoy my small children or merely live my life.

In the time I worked at Morton, which spanned roughly twenty years, I came to know the vast majority of nurses on every unit. I can truly attest to their magnificent skill and compassion.

It is with great pride that I salute all of them and the Maternal Child Unit specifically, managed by Cathy Santos and Joan Benoit, with the following piece.

Some nurses take offense to being referred to as angels...

Some are flattered.

All nurses are amazing.

Patients may forget our names or which shift we work but most, including me, have special memories of "their" nurse angels.

Sometimes nurses are simply dismissed because, after all, they are "just doing their jobs."

They are stretched wafer thin but expected to continue to provide quality care with superhuman effort and then often chastised if they complain.

Doesn't seem fair...

There are endless nuances connected to nursing coupled with countless stressors.

It isn't easy to care for everyone else and yourself as well.

This I know.

Just about every color of the spectrum is involved in a nursing decision EXCEPT black and white.

Usually, circumstances don't allow nursing decisions to be so clearly defined.

My "angels" saved my life.

After the birth of one of my babies, I developed a severe allergic reaction to an antibiotic

necessitating emergent intervention. That experience ranks up there with the scariest thing I have ever been through as a patient.

Two "angels" came in to check on me at the precise moment I discovered I was unable to breathe. Had they not, I perhaps would not be writing this today.

Later, in my weakened state, my "angels" came back and lovingly administered a soothing sponge bath that I will forever remember.

Their care and grace was evident in every stroke.

Such moments are not taught in any nursing school.

It is all too easy to forget the nurse or nurses who care for or work for you.

But, I would ask that we all remember this Nurses Day and always, that no patient, doctor, nurse manager or hospital administrator could function without nurses.

To my "angels", thank you from the bottom of my heart.

If not for you I would perhaps never have seen my babies grow,

or experienced so many special moments since that time.

Morton Hospital and Medical Center employs an amazing group of talented, compassionate and skilled nurses who continue to give it their all with style and grace.

Although I too am a nurse, I am writing this letter as a patient with genuine kudos and gratitude for a job well done.

Thank you to the wonderful nurses from Morton Hospital and Medical Center's Maternal Child Unit, from one of their own....