The Nurses Who Make the Difference

The Boca Grande Health Clinic kicked off National Nurses Week on May 6 with a surprise presentation of giant greeting cards signed by members of the community expressing their gratitude.

Formally recognizing the work of nurses began in 1953 when the request of a woman by the name of Dorothy Sutherland, an official of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, to proclaim a “Nurse Day” went unanswered by President Eisenhower. Then finally in 1974, a full week was designated by the White House as National Nurse Week, and President Nixon issued a proclamation.

National Nurses Week is May 6-12, with the final day falling on Florence Nightingale’s birthday. Nightingale became an icon of nursing as “The Lady with the Lamp,” a title she earned while making night rounds of wounded soldiers during the Crimean War. Nightingale set down on paper the principles of nursing, which formed the foundation for the very first formal schools of nursing in America.

The 2024 theme for Nurses Week is “Nurses Make the Difference.” A big thank you to the nurses of the Boca Grande Health Clinic: Angie Begley, MA, Natalie Cole, RN, Lindsay Dalton, RN, Jenny Maday, RN, Dana Pellant, LPN, Karen Trent, MA, and Laquanda Dixon, MA.

It’s never too late to thank a nurse; you are welcome to stop by the Clinic at any time to say hello and “thank you.” Or, you can recognize a nurse online at https://www.bghc.org/about/submit-a-tribute/.