Make May Memorable
May is a month for making memories, especially if you are a nursing student, practicing nurse, or hospital worker. Graduation celebrations intersect happy endings to new beginnings as the student role transitions to the adventure of joining a team of trusted professionals. Saying goodbye to some of the dearest friends you will ever have is hard.
Cherish every memory.
This year National Nurses Week is celebrated from May 6th-12th.
The theme for 2024 is "Nurses Make the Difference."
The following week is also Hospital Week. Please be sure to send a card, buy a gift, or surprise a nurse or hospital worker this month. Check out my shop and buy a
t-shirt or book for someone who has touched your life.
May is also a time to honor those who serve in the military.
Consider the following scene:
Unable to hold back tears, the veteran sergeant stared in disbelief as they had to be helped off the plane at the Singapore hospital airstrip. Barely able to walk, they shuffled into the hospital, human skeletons with pencil thin legs, boney fingers, and crippled frames. The very sight of them resulted in an explosive hysterical outburst by the patients in the wards. Some of the men had to be subdued.
Who were these survivors of Japanese prisoner of war camps?
Australian nurses. These prisoners of war survived, yet it was well known that their fellow comrades had not been so lucky. The media covered the atrocity of the Banka Island massacre. A Japanese battalion executed twenty-one brave nurses that day. No wonder the men were outraged.
Memorial Day is a time to remember the professional nurses who served our country. Over 350,000 American women volunteered to serve in WWII. More than 59,000 of that group were Registered Nurses who elected to serve in frontline hospitals in overseas war zones. Are you aware that fifty-seven female nurses landed with the D-day forces, unarmed and untrained? Climbing down ropes and ladders, shoulder-to-shoulder with the armed service men, they hit the beaches of French North Africa. This happened once in history.
A draft has never been a requirement for nurse recruitment during war. No one saluted a Nurse Lieutenant and the pay was half the income of a man of equal rank. But today, we can salute those nurses when we choose to remember the ones that may have held our great-grandfather’s hands or eased our uncle’s pain. Many women gave their lives, even though we may never know their names.
Thank you, Lord, for nurses who served in the wars of the past and those precious ones currently serving today. Father, please give strength and peace to those nurses working today in any hospital, clinic, or school. We are grateful for their service and compassion. Bless them one and all for they face daily challenges.
In Jesus name, I pray. Amen