In this two-minute read, we celebrate those working in the noblest of professions – nursing.
It’s International Nurses Day next week, so we thought we’d share this brilliant quote with you: “Save one life, and you’re a hero. Save 100 lives, and you’re a nurse.”
International Nurses Day is on 12th of May (the birthday of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing). It’s a chance to thank a profession that often seems forever taken for granted but one that has given so much during the pandemic.
Nurses, at all levels and across the globe, have served on the Covid-19 frontline for more than a year. From those with years of experience and dedicated service, to the many new junior recruits, all have delivered high-quality professional care along with unstinting compassion and kindness.
This was no more apparent than at the height of the UK crisis, when hospitals banned friends and family visits to stop the spread of the virus. It fell to nurses to provide soothing words and comfort to the critically ill – at a time when they too were stretched to the limits (and often beyond).
And let’s not forget the nurses who work in other parts of the health system such as care homes, hospices, cancer units, and paediatric wards.
Here in Exeter and the wider Devon community there are no doubt hundreds of examples of their dedication and commitment, in the face of often overwhelming workload and at the cost of their own mental and physical well-being.
To mark #NursesDay, here are just a handful of inspiring nursing stories:
– When East Londoner Laszlo Kelemen isn’t working as an NHS nurse, he volunteers as a Red Cross emergency responder. Laszlo has attended car crashes, house fires, and major incidents including the 2017 London Bridge attack and the Grenfell Tower blaze.
– Vasu Lingappa is a senior nurse with University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust. Earlier this year, Vasu won praise from the Duchess of Cambridge for his compassionate care throughout the Covid-19 crisis. During one patient’s final moments, Vasu held his hand while playing music by the man’s favourite band, Bon Jovi.
– Alma Ainslie-Davies is a nurse with the end-of-life charity Marie Curie in the Grampian region of Scotland. Alma spent 24 years in the Army but changed careers after witnessing Marie Curie nurses care for her late mother. Alma now works to ensure the terminally ill enjoy respect and dignity in their final days.
– Viveki Kapoor works in a Delhi hospital. She has nursed for 22 years but has never seen anything like the Covid-19 crisis currently engulfing India. She told the BBC: “I’m so tired at the end of the day that I can fall sleep anywhere. I don’t even need a bed anymore.”
You can show your support for nurses by sharing #NursesDay on social media on Wednesday.
All of us here at Wilkinson Grant & Co would like to thank the nursing community for their dedication and service.
COPYRIGHT WILKINSON GRANT & CO 2021
