National Nurses Week ended yesterday, and Memorial Health stepped up to the occasion by showing its nurses some extra love.
A potato bar, gifts, raffles, karaoke and more filled the previous week with events to celebrate nurses.
It was all to celebrate nurses, who often work long hours and care for people in some of their hardest moments. Rechelle Criger, an emergency service administrator for Memorial Health System says she gladly does it every day.
“I like to care for people,” she said. “I like to make sure people are cared for. I try to feel like I am more of a selfless person. I take care of others before I take care of myself.”
Criger says her reasons are similar to what got many other nurses in the field.
“I think most of the time when you ask nurses why they got into nursing,” she said, “It’s because they wanted to help others and they wanted to help people on their worst day.”
Gladys Valentine, a nurse at McMahon Tomlinson Nursing & Rehabilitation Center has been at her facility for decades.
She shared what kept her going for so long.
“Being able to get up and make somebody’s day better,” she said. “That’s what I’m all about. If I can make your day better, then that’s what I want to do.”
For many nurses, it is more than a career.
“This is family,” Criger said. “This is home.”
Criger also said nurses can make an impact during a patient’s most difficult moments.
“We have good and bad days and know that you’re always that person that is there when a patient comes in for help,” she said. “You’re gonna be their light. You’re gonna be the reason that they may feel better, have good in that day. So, you are that reason.”
Criger shared that the hospital’s message during each Nation Nurses Week is appreciation.
“The big message here is that we appreciate all of our nurses, no matter where they are located or where they work in our facility,” she said. “Whether it be a clinic or the hospital setting, they are appreciated. We can’t do our jobs without our nurses and they truly are the backbone of our organization.”
National Nurses Week runs from May 6 to 12 each year. The week always ends on the birthday of Florence Nightingale, who is often called the mother of modern nursing.
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