It's your week!
The 6th day until the 12th of May marks the annual celebration of NURSES and their selfless service to the entire humanity.
We have all been exchanging greetings and well wishes with out fellow nurses during this occasion, but do we know how this began?
What is known today as National Nurses Week was born out of an idea by Dorothy Sutherland of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. In 1953, she asked President Eisenhower to proclaim a day in October as “Nurse Day.” Unfortunately, President Eisenhower never made the proclamation.
The following year, Representative Frances P. Bolton sponsored a bill for National Nurse Week, which was observed from October 11-16, 1954 and marked the 100th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s mission to Crimea. In 1955, an attempt was made to push a bill through Congress for National Nurse Week, but nothing came of it. Around that same time, Congress halted its practice of proclaiming national weeks.
In 1972, another attempt to secure an official proclamation for recognition of nurses was presented to the House of Representatives. This time, the resolution was for “National Registered Nurse Day.” Yet again, the proclamation was not made.
Two years later, in 1974, the International Council of Nurses proclaimed May 12, Florence Nightingale’s birthday, “International Nurse Day.” That same year, President Nixon issued a proclamation designating a week in February as National Nurse Week.
Nurses got a boost of recognition in 1978, when New Jersey Governor Brendon Byrne declared May 6 to be “Nurses Day.” That same year, Edward Scanlan of Red Bank, N.J. personally recognized the nurses in his state by having the date listed in Chase’s Calendar of Annual Events and by promoting the celebration.
On a national perspective, let us explore the contributions of our fellow Filipino Nurses in the Unites states. “Nurses are highly valued by patients. After all, in hospitals, nursing homes, managed long-term facilities, and other care centers, the nurses provide most of the medical care and direct, personal and face-to-face provision of care, interventions and bundles of care towards patient recovery and rehabilitation. Nurses are the ones who spend 90 percent of their time with patients who get to know their nurses much more so than most of the doctors. And, the patients are always very grateful to the nurses,” said Edmund Mercado, a board member of Philippine Nurses Association of New York.
The history of Filipinos migrating to the United States to be trained as nurses stems back to the 1900s. Some stayed in the country, while others returned to the Philippines to put their expertise to practice and set up nursing schools and programs.
“The Philippines has sent nurses to America since it was a U.S. colony in the early 1900s; today, nearly one out of every five Filipino women in the U.S. works as a nurse,” according to a report by Quartz. (In California alone, 20.3 percent of nurses identify as Filipino.)
What draws Filipinos and Fil-Ams to nursing? Is it because caring for others, especially those who are sick and aging, is innate in Filipino culture?
“Filipino nurses excel in the United States because caring for others — especially our elderly and family — is already a quintessential part of our culture,” shared Kathleen Reyes, a registered nurse in Southern California. “Having a dynamic with our own families that includes extended relatives and our elderly has formed our nursing skills of caring even before we pass our NCLEX. Filipino nurses are important because we do give that unique and deeply authentic [tender loving care].”
Now, it is apparent that the Filipino Nurses, not only in America, but all over the world, are worthy of a colossal and joyous celebration.
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