20th May 2011 International Nurses Day

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The FirstCare service is nothing without the excellent work of our nurses. Amongst all the coughs, colds and headaches it is occasionally easy to forget that over the years the FirstCare Nurses have truly saved lives. From employees that didn’t realise they were suffering from heart attacks or strokes, through to brain tumours, the FirstCare nurses have seen and dealt with it all.

This is one of the many reasons that on Thursday 12 May, we were delighted to join in the celebrations for International Nurses Day.

The festivities began on Wednesday 11 May when I accompanied 10 representatives from the FirstCare nursing team to attend the “Dedication of the Lamp” service at Westminster Abbey. The service remembers Florence Nightingale by assembling thousands of nurses who pledge their nursing vows for the coming year.

On Thursday morning the entire Nursing team was treated to a healthy breakfast served by the non-nursing staff.  The Nurses were delighted and looked forward to being spoiled further during the rest of the day!

During the day we had a variety of events, including a Health & Wellbeing Clinic, a Woman’s Health Clinic and a Sexual Health Clinic. All events were open to the entire building and each was very well attended.

Following lunch we were delighted when the Deputy President of the Royal College of Nursing, Cecilia Amin joined us for the afternoon and attended a seminar presentation delivered by our Nurse trainer, Jayne Lythgoe, on the lives of Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole.

Later in the afternoon an official cake cutting took place, with all the Nursing staff happily in attendance.

It is so important that we appreciate our nurses and that they never lose sight of the roots and dedication that brought them into nursing.   The nursing team and I are keen to uphold the traditional values that nurses represent.

Michael Gill RN, BSc (Hons)