The annual celebration of the nurses is more important than ever as they battle to save lives amid the COVID-19 pandemic. With a sister as a nurse, I know that these frontline workers are superheroes of the health care profession.

Nurses Day provides us a time we honor a group of people who provide a valuable societal service. In 1982, President Reagan designated May 6 as National Recognition Day for Nurses and Congress chose the whole week to honor them. I doubt anyone would disagree that this year’s Nurses Day has a profound meaning to everyone on the planet.

The celebration of nurses is so important to me that I put my money where my mouth is. I enlisted Tuscany restaurant in Agoura Hills to create a beautifully catered lunch for the health care workers at Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center.

I think they were happy to know we are thinking about them. It’s a small gesture of appreciation when no words or actions will do.

I know from watching my sister that nurses have been doing life-saving work long before COVID-19 was a concern. Before the Coronavirus pandemic, everyone instinctively knew that nurses were special. They spend the most time with patients while monitoring and protecting their health. Nurses comfort and inform families, and they carry out the orders of doctors, therapists, and clinicians. They work in physically demanding shifts, on their feet most of the time; one study claiming the equivalent of walking four to five miles a day. And, while they’re required to be keenly astute and alert mentally, they’re also called upon for the emotional support sick people, and their loved ones, crave.

It makes sense that the nursing profession is consistently ranked as one of the most trusted. This year, the annual Gallup Survey named nursing as among the highest-trusted professions for the 18th time in a row. Nurses are viewed as having high ethical and honesty standards by 85 percent of the public who took the survey. I know that this year’s celebration may be more poignant because of the pandemic, but in my family, nurses have always been heroes.

To honor nurses during this pandemic, the April 17th online edition of The Los Angeles Times posted a photo essay of nurses from around the world. The sensitive depictions highlighted the bravery these committed souls provide to their patients. Reporter Kirk McKoy wrote, “Nurses are the underappreciated heroes of this crisis. Though they are usually the coolest of head in the room, they are now feeling the tremendous pressure of their situation.” He went on to observe that, “When a patient is placed in intensive care, it’s the nurses who do the mundane and the heroic to help the patient recover or die with a little more comfort.”

So moving was this pictorial that it almost seemed useless to write a blog about how much I, too, admire the work of our nurses during this difficult and terrifying time.

As we all struggle through COVID-19, it’s important to take a moment and say a big thank you to nurses who have been on frontlines in this battle.

Thank you, nurses.

 

Be Blissed,

The Bliss Car Wash Team

Make sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook to stay in touch, and for all the latest Bliss updates.