Happy School Nurse Day!
National School Nurse Day is celebrated on the Wednesday of National Nurses Week every year. This year it is on May 8th as National Nurses Week is always May 6-12 every year. Why 6-12? Because it always ends on Florence Nightingale’s birthday and that is May 12th.
After several attempts to get a National Nurses Week recognized, starting in 1953. President Nixon finally issued the proclamation in February 1974. For the next 16 years, more often than not, it would be only one day of recognition for RNs only. It wasn’t until 1990 when the American Nurses Association finally expanded the celebration to a full week starting May 6th and ending on the 12th.
In 1996 the ANA further stipulated that May 6th would be National RN Recognition Day “to honor the nation's indispensable registered nurses for their tireless commitment 365 days a year.” In 1998 they declared that May 8th was designated as National Student Nurses Day and finally, in 2003 the ANA designated the Wednesday of National Nurses Week would honor School Nurses.
How can it be celebrated?
1. Encourage students to make thank you cards. (Teachers and admin can also recognize the work a school nurse does.)
2. Or create a story with your class about your school nurse (and be sure to thank her at the end of the story).
3. Create a “Nurse Appreciation” wall. Nurses are often the unsung hero in the school. And lately they are often the recipient of a lot of sideways anger from staff and parents. So, think about finding ways to say thank you to your school nurse more often than once a year.
4. Organize a health and wellness event for the school community.
5. Buy her, or him their lunch for the day, or do a coffee run and don’t forget the nurse.
6. Gifts of appreciation never go amiss.
7. Acknowledge the school nurse during general announcements at school.
8. Make sure parent organizations within the school community are informed about Nurse Recognition week and in particular School Nurse Day.
9. If you are friends with the school nurse on social media, let all your friends know about National School Nurse Day so they can give a shout out to their children’s school nurse(s). Shout out to your child’s school nurse while you are at it.
One year a parent came to me and said she had just received a bonus check and she wanted to honor the work I did. She further stated she would like to use it to provide child-oriented band aids as one thing, but what else would I like? She ended up buying a large number of all kinds of child friendly band aids and she bought half a dozen decent quality ear thermometers. Enough that I could put two at all three of our preschools (at the time—since then we have expanded to five preschool sites). She bought rolls of Kling wrap and 2x2” and 4x4” sterile gauze pads for children with larger scrapes that needed bandaging.
The school nurse is a valuable team member—let her (or him) know it. Consider saying thank you more than one day of the year, but do honor your school nurse on this day.