Nurses
NURSES
In honor of National Nurses week, we would like to take a minute to recognize and appreciate our heroes of healthcare: nurses. Nurses are with us during every step of our healing process, they are essentially the glue that holds the delicate field of healthcare together. There are many notable nurses that we can learn from and seek to admire such as Dorothea Dix and Clara Barton. Although nurses are dedicated to providing care, comfort, and compassion for patients and their families, they would ironically rather not see you in their workplace (and for good reason too, take your vitamins, eat your ice cream, you know the deal).
The occupation of nursing began “professionally” around the mid-19th century, although the roles of nurses had been fulfilled by many strong women generations before then. At first, nursing faced many challenges regarding women’s roles, religion, war, and societal opinions. Throughout history, when someone was sick, it was the responsibility of the family and the woman of the house to take care of the ill. It was seen as absurd to pay money for someone else to do what “any woman should do” for free. People only turned to healthcare when an epidemic or large virus swept a town or village. This began to change, however, when hospitals became more widespread and top-notch, patient-based care was offered to more than just the wealthy elite of the time.
From then on, people began to trust in nurses more and more and the practice of home healthcare has steadily declined. Today, nursing is the largest healthcare professional in the United States, and the numbers continue to grow every year. Compared to only a few decades ago, nursing has also become a more common profession for men, even though women make up the majority (88%) of the workforce. Nurses teach, heal, provide, and assist us to remain hopeful and maintain healthy lifestyles, and we should continue to be thankful for all they do for us and our families.
We love having the opportunity to celebrate nurses and all health care frontline health workers of all genders–from environmental services, to PAs, nurses and physicians and everything in between! So, in honor of National Nurses Week, the Sisters are scooping over 5,000 servings of ice cream to staff of ice cream this week to the staff of the UVM Health Network!
“Save one life, you’re a hero. Save one-hundred lives, well you’re a nurse.” – Anonymous