Nurses Week begins today and this year’s activities are to be held under the theme “Delivering Quality, Serving Communities: Nurses leading chronic care.”
This year is designated “International Year of the Nurse” in order to recognise the contributions of nurses globally and to mark the centennial year of the death of Florence Nightingale, the founder of nursing. To launch the week-long observance, a church service will be held at the Guyana Nurses Association (GNA) Hall, Alexander Street at 3pm. On Monday, a community outreach will be held outside of Fogarty’s, where a number of health talks will be given and blood pressure and glucose testing will be done.
International Nurses Day will be celebrated on Wednesday and an initiative, “My Nursing 100,” is planned. The initiative is one where nurses, current or retired, will endeavour to commit 100 minutes to nursing care in any health care environment. On May 13, a Continuing Nursing Education session on the theme will be held at the GNA Hall at 1:30pm.
According to the Executive of the Nurses Association, the focus of activities is to have nurses become more involved in chronic care and to ensure that they are in good health was well.
According to a release from the International Council of Nurses (ICN), “statistics show that 60% of deaths globally are due to chronic disease and 80% of these occur in low and middle income countries.” The ICN “is calling on nurses everywhere to move to action, in their personal lives and professional roles, to stem the pandemic of chronic disease.”
The release further stated that “educated and empowered nurses and communities can contribute more effectively to the wider changes needed in health and social policy as well as structural changes locally, nationally and internationally.”
