We live in an unprecedented time, where more than 4 million people have contracted Covid-19 and where nearly 300,000 have succumbed to the virus.
And at the bedsides and through every stage of treatment, recovery or sadly death, nurses have been by the side of these in their hours of most need.
International Nurses Day is an opportunity to remember the dedicated health care professionals who very often place their own lives and those of their families and loved ones at risk by simply providing help, care and nursing to the ill and infirm.
To the millions who have followed in her footsteps, who have dedicated their careers to caring, who have often sacrificed family needs for the demands of a round-the-clock profession, we owe an immense debt of thanks and gratitude
In the UAE alone, there are thousands of dedicated nursing staff across the hospitals and health care facilities that look after the health and well-being of us all. Around the world, there are countless thousands more, a legion of carers at the frontline in fighting coronavirus.
Yes, coronavirus and the dangers it poses is our latest and most obvious threat — but it should stand now as a reminder to us all that the work being done in hospitals and institutions, in the home and in the community, goes mostly unnoticed and under-appreciated at the best of times.
And yes, these are the worst of times, highlighting just how difficult their work is but they choose to do it in the service of others.
Delivering medical needs
We owe a debt of deep appreciation to every nurse in every setting, from those in a doctor’s office to a community care clinic, from those who visit the ill and infirm in their homes, to those who work through long nights and fraught days, providing care and delivering medical needs.
Whatever their setting, they have answered a calling to assist and help their fellow man in days of need, weeks of care and in final hours.
Two centuries ago on this day, Florence Nightingale was born in England, a remarkable woman who set about formalising care, laying the foundations of modern-day nursing, proving that recovery was dependent on care.
To the millions who have followed in her footsteps, who have dedicated their careers to caring, who have often sacrificed family needs for the demands of a round-the-clock profession, we owe an immense debt of thanks and gratitude.
But nurses never expect thanks. They simply choose to go about their work helping others, giving a helping hand, showing compassion, providing the best nursing care they can. Yes, they are our modern-day angels.
