National Nurses Day celebrated at local hospitals

Nursing is the largest healthcare profession in the world and often the only health professionals accessible to many people in their lifetime. Nurses are particularly well placed and often the most innovative in reaching underserved and disadvantaged populations.

The theme of this year’s International Nurses Day is A Voice to Lead – A Vision for future healthcare. At Life Suikerbosrand hospital, this commemoration day was celebrated with pride as a group of nursing staff held a lit candle and read aloud the Nursing Pledge. Sr Ilana de Wet briefly spoke about the legacy of Florence Nightingale who lived 201 years ago and still speak to nurses today.

“The values of the nursing profession is what connects us globally. Florence Nightingale was a voice who led, and we celebrate this profession today. We commit ourselves again to the values she moulded,” Ilana said.

She thanked the nurses for their dedication, especially during a time such as this when dealing with a pandemic.

Sr Cordelia Wilmot spoke about the Life Healthcare group who annually holds a Great 100 Nurses Celebration to honour 100 nurses who have made a significant difference to the profession of nursing and in the lives of patients, peers, students and the community.

Colleagues, line managers, doctors and non-nursing personnel nominate nurses based on the following criteria: professionalism, compassionate caregiving, clinical competence and leadership qualities. Ilana has been nominated from Life Suikerbosrand Hospital.

“We are very proud of Ilana and she is well-deserving of this great honour. Her commitment and passion in which she performs her job are evident in the patient comment cards and her academic performance,” Kubashnee Naidoo, hospital manager, said.

Ilana, who celebrates 22 years in the nursing profession this year, has worked at Life Suikerbosrand for the past 11 years.

“I am honoured and grateful for the nomination and believe anyone can achieve this through hard work, dedication and passion for nursing,” Ilana said.

Ilana, who is also the infection control specialist at Suikerbosrand, has recently been promoted and will be leaving Suikerbosrand at the end of May.

Heidelberg Hospital staff members celebrated International Nurses Day on May 14th.

As she elucidated the purpose of this day, matron Lydia Msiza mentioned the other important factor of celebrating this special day for nurses.

“The purpose of this day is to celebrate us as nurses and to embrace each other. We need to celebrate what God has put inside us because nursing is not just a career, but a calling. We need to thank God for who we are. We are essential caretakers of our society. During this time of a pandemic, we are at the forefront teaching our society on how to take care of themselves, ensuring they sanitise their hands regularly, always put their masks on and always maintain social distancing,” said Msiza.

The CEO of Heidelberg Hospital, Dr Itumeleng Molatlhegi, added: “I am very honoured that I have come to Heidelberg Hospital during the month of Nurses Day. For me, let us not celebrate a day, but celebrate our nurses daily because we are nothing without our nurses.”

The event proceeded with matron Lindiwe Dhlamini initiating the candle lighting where she briefly shared the history of Florence Nightingale, before leading nurses into the Nurses Pledge.

Nurses were also given gifts of appreciation as part of appreciating them for a job well done during all these years, courtesy of Liberty Life.