In case you didn’t already know this, May 7-13 is National Hospital Week. This recognition initially began as a day, created in 1921 to promote confidence and education in hospitals following the Spanish flu. The President of the United States at the time, Warren G. Harding saw this as a way to rebuild the public’s trust in the city hospitals after the Spanish flu claimed more than 675,000 Americans.
In 1953, National Hospital Day was changed to include an entire week in order to help educate the public about medical examinations and treatments. Now we use this week to also help honor those who work in a hospital setting, and recognize all of the day-to-day hard work, especially throughout the pandemic.
This week, May 6-12, we also recognize National Nurses Week, in honor of Florence Nightingale, the Founder of Modern Nursing. Born on May 12, 1820, Florence was a nurse on the front lines during the Crimean War. She took action by keeping areas sanitized with hygiene protocols and was able to help reduce the death count in battlezones. In the time that Florence served as a nurse, she not only wrote over 150 books/reports on health-related issues, she contributed to the practice of making hospitals a cleaner and safer environment for recovery.
In 1974, the International Council of Nurses established May 12 as International Nurses Day. The celebration was extended to a week a few years later, and National Nurses Week was officially created in 1994. In the United Kingdom, a ceremonial lamp is passed along a line of nurses from the Nurses’ Chapel at Westminster Abbey to the abbey’s High Altar, symbolizing the passage of knowledge; An annual ritual based on Florence Nightingale’s nighttime visits to injured soldiers.
In honor of these two weeks coming together, please take a moment and thank a hospital professional or nurse who you may have in your life, or made an impact. These are the people who continue to keep us healthy, and we should show recognition of their contributions and sacrifices more than just one week a year. To those who work hard at helping to keep us in the best health, we say thank you.